Santos is our biggest company, while the Shahin family head up SA’s largest private firm

Santos and the Shahin family’s Peregrine Corporation again head up our largest public and private companies, new data from IBISWorld shows.

Santos has slipped out of the top 50 of Australia’s largest companies, according to IBISWorld’s annual ranking of the top 1000 companies in the nation, while the Shahin family’s Peregrine Corporation remains South Australia’s largest privately-held company.

While Santos’s annual revenue was static at $9.19bn, the market research and analysis company said, its overall ranking slipped from 34 last year to 56.

The Australian arm of Canadian grain handler Viterra came in in second place overall in SA, with $6.4bn in revenue, moving it from 90th to 78th on the national list, while the Shahin family’s Peregrine Corporation came in third with $3.5bn.

Santos managing director Kevin Gallagher heads up SA’s largest company.

The Shahin family businesses, led by brothers Yasser, Sam and Charlie, have undergone a significant transformation over the past year or so, with the sale of the OTR chain of service stations and associated convenience stores to Viva Energy for $1.15bn.

The Peregrine business, headquartered in Norwood, still retains significant business and property interests, with the family also operating The Bend motorsport park at Tailem Bend.

Food was a large contributor at the top end of SA’s rankings, with Elders in fourth place with $3.3bn in turnover and Thomas Foods International in fifth with $2.8bn adding to the contribution from Viterra.

Sam Shahin, Viva Energy managing director Scott Wyatt, Yasser Shahin and Charlie Shahin. Picture: Supplied.

Thomas Foods completed the rebuild of its Murray Bridge meatworks in May last year, after it burned down in early 2018, with the facility now employing hundreds of people.

Automotive businesses generated more than $4.2bn in turnover, with the Australian headquarters of Mitsubishi Motors, based in Adelaide, turning over $2.4bn, and the privately-owned CMV Group of motor dealerships generating almost $1.9bn.

Building products maker Adbri turned over $1.9bn last calendar year, slipping from 264 in the national rankings last year to 287.

Darren Thomas of Thomas Foods International. Picture: Tom Roschi Photography

Adbri, which operates a cement plant at Birkenhead, will cease to exist as a stand-alone entity likely by the end of this year, after its board recommended shareholders accept a $2.1bn takeover offer from Ireland-based building materials company CRH, which will buy all of the shares that major shareholder, the Melbourne-based, Barro Group, doesn’t currently own.

Adbri, previously known as Adelaide Brighton, has local roots stretching back to 1882 when the Brighton cement works were opened by Welsh immigrant William Lewis, who started producing cement at the time using Adelaide’s rich coastal limestone deposits as a feedstock.

Workers at a Viterra facility at Roseworthy. Picture: Tom Huntley

Oil and gas company Beach Energy and defence contractor BAE Systems Australia round out the local top 10 largest companies, with fellow defence companies Liebherr Australia and Babcock Australia also ranked highly.

Nationally, the global mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto topped IBISWorld’s list of the nation’s largest companies while Woolworths was third and fellow miner Glencore fourth.

The big four banks rounded out slots five to eight, while Bunnings owner Wesfarmers was ninth-largest and Coles tenth.