According to data from the end of 2020, the first three in the latest TOP 101 Estonia's most valuable ranking compiled by the M&A advisory company Prudentia and Nasdaq Tallinn were Eesti Energia with € 2 billion value, Swedbank with € 1.9 billion and Luminor Bank with € 1.7 billion.
According to Hando Sutter, chairman of the management board of Eesti Energia, who won TOP 101 for the second year in a row this year, the title of Estonia’s most valuable company is a recognition of the good work of more than 4,300 colleagues and an encouragement for the future. “In Eesti Energia, wonderful people are creating and cultivating value. They are inherent to a thirst for learning, quickly adapting to change and quick judgment in the face of challenges. What has brought us success is focusing on renewable energy and developing the customer experience. We feel the responsibility to be a partner to our customers in planning and going green, by offering comprehensive, convenient and useful energy solutions,” he commented.
Illar Kaasik, the head of compiling the top and the leading partner of Prudentia, says that Estonia's most valuable enterprises TOP 101 ranking of 2021 already reflects both the twists and turns of the pandemic, as well as fresh challenges and growth opportunities. “At first glance, the top leaderboard has remained largely the same – 80% of the same names appear in both the top ten and the top in general. However, the more detailed figures reflect the general optimistic growth phase that the Estonian economy seems to have reached. This year, we have seen both double-digit economic growth rates and the highest inflation in Europe, and now a sharp increase in the value of companies, "Kaasik noted.
According to Kaasik, it is also worth noting that while the total value of TOP 101 valuable enterprises came to € 28.99 billion, the total value of the TOP Tech 25 growth companies in Estonia was € 21 billion in October. “Although the methodology for evaluating fast-growing startups is somewhat different than valuation of classic value companies – and as a result, TOP Tech leaders like Bolt or Skeleton don’t appear in the TOP 101 – this is a good illustration of the role of startups and the rapidly changing balance in Estonian economy,” he added.
According to Kaarel Ots, the head of the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange, compiling the TOP 101 ranking is drawing society's attention to the engines of the Estonian economy. Of course, the most immediate feedback mechanism in assessing the value of a company is when the company is listed on the stock exchange, but according to him, data like TOP 101 is the first and necessary step in analyzing and understanding the value.
Kaarel Ots says that the TOP 101 of Estonia’s most valuable enterprises differs from several business rankings compiled in Estonia in that not only turnover, profit and growth figures are taken into account: “Businesses are also given clear feedback on how they are viewed and valued by society, the environment and funders. When compiling the ranking, Nasdaq Tallinn evaluates the company's transparency through corporate governance score, which affects the company's final value by up to 20%,” he noted.
2021 Estonia’s most valuable enterprises TOP 101 was compiled based on companies’ 2020 financial results and stock market end of June 2021 multipliers. The purpose of compiling the leaderboard is to create a public debate on the value and value creation of companies in general.
TOP 101 was compiled for the third time this year, and while in 2019 you needed a company value of at least € 67.1 million to get to the top, in 2020 the limit was € 58.7 million and in 2021 € 86.3 million!
While the total value of the 2019 and 2020 tops was relatively similar (€ 20.74 billion and € 20.69 billion respectively), the value of the 2021 top has risen to € 28.99 billion. Although the total value of the top increased, the EBITDA of the companies decreased by almost 300 million euros – a large part of which can be attributed to Tallink and Eesti Energia.
A complete list of the 2021 TOP 101 Estonia’s most valuable enterprises is available on the website www.top101.ee. A thorough introduction to the ranking, along with additional materials and interviews, will also be published in the TOP 101 section of Delfi Ärileht and in Eesti Päevaleht.