Teva Pips Hapoalim to Top D & B Ranking

Teva Pharmaceuticals has taken over from Bank Hapoalim as Israel's strongest company, according to Dun & Bradtsreet's "Strength" ranking released yesterday. The ranking is based on market value, equity, operating income and net profit for the year 2001.

On these criteria, Teva tops the list, with Bank Hapoalim (last year's number one) and Bank Leumi as runners up. Next in order come Amdocs (billing giant), Comverse (telecoms technology), Bezeq (state-controled telephone monopoly), Check Point (Internet security), Israel Aircraft Industries, Migdal Holdings (insurance) and SuperSol (supermarket chain).

The most prominent changes from last year's ranking was Amdocs' leap from 19th place to fourth, Harel Insurance Investments' climb from 38th to 23rd place, and Taro's jump from 97th place (Dun lists the top 100 companies in all) to 34th. On the down side, the Israel Electric Corporation, the state-owned electricity monopoly, fell from fifth spot to become the country's 18th "strongest," while Israel Chemicals Ltd swooped down from sixth to 20th.

With regard to the sectorial surveys, Dun & Bradstreet found that the banking sector made profits of $544.5 million in 2001, followed by insurance, with $330 million, and service and trade companies, with a total $101 million. The poorest showing came from the holding companies, which made collective losses of $1.4 billion.