JSE Top 40 over 30 Years
Almost three decades ago, in 1995, the JSE looked a lot different than it is now!
Anglo American, Richemont, Standard Bank, Sasol, Nedcor, Absa and Gold Fields are the only companies that still make the cut. Other companies that still feature but were acquired or have since changed include:
- SAB
- Rembrandt
- Gencor
- Liberty Holdings
- First National Bank
Mining was the leading industry and Anglo American was the leader of the JSE with a R51.3 billion market cap, which would be about R243 billion today. The miner held ownership in four Top 20 JSE-listed companies including Minorco in Luxembourg and some financial services providers. In 2024, 12 mining groups, in gold and platinum, are still on the Top 40.
The top four banks, including FNB which is now part of FirstRand, are still in the Top 40 along with new addition, Capitec, sitting at a R237 billion market cap.
Shoprite, Clicks and Pepkor run the retail industry today. In 1995, it was the now defunct Edcon, which was then the only one in the Top 40.
Take a look at how the first 20 companies of the JSE Top 40 looked in 1995, with their market cap then, what they would be worth now, and what has since happened to some of those businesses:
JSE Top 40 in 1995
| Company | Market Cap | Market cap (inflation-adjusted) | Subsequent events |
| Anglo American | R51.3bn | R243bn | |
| De Beers Consolidated Mines | R42bn | R199bn | Acquired by Anglo in 2011 |
| South African Breweries | R39.6bn | R188bn | Acquired by AB InBev in 2016 |
| Richemont | R28.7bn | R136bn | |
| Liberty Life Assurance | R27.6bn | R131bn | Acquired by Standard Bank in 2021 |
| Minorco | R23.8bn | R113bn | Merged with Anglo American in 1998 |
| Standard Bank | R20.9bn | R99bn | |
| Rembrandt Group | R18.3bn | R87bn | Split into Remgro and VenFin in 2000 |
| Sasol | R17.8bn | R84bn | |
| Gencor | R17.6bn | R84bn | Eventually became BHP |
| Liberty Holdings | R14.6bn | R69bn | Eventually became UK property-focused Liberty International, which became Intu and Capital & Counties (today Shaftesbury Capital) |
| First National Bank | R14.6bn | R69bn | Eventually became a subsidiary of FirstRand |
| Nedcor | R13.4bn | R63bn | Since renamed Nedbank |
| CG Smith | R13.2bn | R63bn | Unbundled its subsidiaries Tiger, Nampak and Illovo in 2000 |
| Beverage Consolidated Industrial Holdings | R13bn | R62bn | Became Amalgamated Beverage Industries Limited (ABI), acquired by SAB in 2004 and later by Coca-Cola in 2017 |
| Amalgamated Banks of South Africa | R11.9bn | R56bn | Since renamed Absa |
| Anglo American Investment Trust | R11.8bn | R56bn | Merged into Anglo |
| Anglo American Industrial Corp | R11bn | R52bn | Merged into Anglo in 1999 |
| Gold Fields | R10.6bn | R50bn | |
| Barlow | R10.5bn | R50bn | Since renamed Barloworld |
* Source: Moneyweb
** This information does not constitute financial advice of any nature whatsoever. The decision to invest, and the suitability of any investment choice is solely your responsibility.
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