Global Finance Cash 25 | Kings Of Cash

The Global Cash 25 list includes 13 US companies, seven Asian companies and five European firms.


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Seven companies crack the ranking for the first time. Meanwhile, corporate liquidity keeps on rising.        

Last year, the breakdown was similar: 14 US corporations, six Asian and five European firms. Likewise, cash held by the top 25 companies is down from last year, but not by much. In the 2014 ranking, the top 25 companies held some $774.2 billion in cash and short-term investments. This year that figure has dropped to $721.3 billion. Survey after survey has shown that overall cash held by global corporates is generally rising, which suggests that cash hoards are increasing further down the value chain.

GE and Microsoft once again lead the ranking. GE is sitting on $90 billion in cash, Microsoft $85.4 billion. But Verizon Communications, which came in third last year, has completely fallen off the list. That’s to be expected. The company used a chunk of its cash to make a number of acquisitions and launch an impressive share buyback plan over the past year. In addition to its three-year, 100-billion share repurchase plan, which will terminate in 2017, the telecommunications company also announced a $5 billion accelerated share buyback earlier this year. Cash and short-term investments for the company dropped from around $54 billion last year to around $11 billion on its latest annual report.

Malaysia’s Petronas has also dropped from the list, after two years in the top five. Toyota is now the top-ranked firm in Asia, coming in 4th over all with $41.5 billion in cash—up from $34.7 billion last year.

Not surprisingly, there is once again an abundance of tech firms, automotive companies and pharmas on the list. Outside of those three sectors, Coca-Cola has been steadily working its way up, going from 21st place, with $16.6 billion in cash, on the 2013 ranking, to 14th place, with $20.3 billion last year, and finally moving up to 12th place this year, with a reported $21.7 billion in free cash.

The only other firms outside the three main sectors that make the Global Cash 25 ranking this year are US consumer products outfit Johnson & Johnson and France’s Total, which have both been on the list since we began running it in 2013. With Petronas off the list this year, Total is the only energy company to make the global ranking. The firm moved from 10th place in 2013 down to 13th in 2014. This year, it rose four spots, coming in 9th with $26.5 billion in cash on its balance sheet.

New entrants to the Global Cash 25 list include Hon Hai Precision Industries—which trades as FoxConn and is an electronics contract manufacturer. Japanese digital electronics maker SoftBank, semiconductor firm Qualcomm, Hyundai Motor, Amazon, HP and medical-device maker Medtronic also cracked the top 25 for the first time. They replace Verizon Communications, Petronas, Oracle, Intel, Spain’s Telefónica, Chevron and Japanese e-commerce outfit Rakuten.

Of those companies that made the list last year, the biggest riser this year is Amgen—which went from 17th last year with $19.4 billion in cash to 8th place this year with $27 billion in cash.

Hyundai saw the biggest yearly jump in cash, going from $6.9 billion last year to $20 billion this year—a $13 billion increase. Other big gainers by year-over-year change in cash include Microsoft, which built up an additional $8.7 billion in its war chest, and Amgen, which saw cash rise by $7.6 billion. Conversely, the biggest yearly drop in cash on balance sheet was made by Apple, which reduced its available cash and short-term investments by $15.5 billion. Daimler had the second-largest cash decline of those on the top 25 list, with a change year-on-year of -$4.8 billion.


The figures cited in the Global Cash 25 list include cash and short-term investments, but exclude long-term marketable securities, which are often cited in cash figures. This ranking, however, takes into account the fact that such securities are not as liquid, generally, as cash and equivalents—hence their exclusion. Apple, which is regularly cited as one of the most cash-rich companies in the world, comes in just 12th on our list (down from 6th last year), as a result of the exclusion of long term securities. The firm reported $130 billion in long-term securities on its latest annual report.

DIVIDEND CHAMPIONS

With cash still rising, corporate executives continue to feel the pressure from shareholders to make efficient use of cash—that or funnel some of the money back to investors. In the current low-interest-rate environment, and with cash repatriation still at a tax disadvantage in many jurisdictions, companies favor issuing debt for share repurchasing as a means of appeasing shareholders while keeping the cash hoard on hand. Apple is a prime example: The company paid out $55.3 billion in dividends and share repurchases in fiscal 2014, while taking on $18.3 billion in debt—bringing its total outstanding debt to around $45 billion. The company currently pays an annual dividend of $2.08 a share.

On the dividend front, Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson are both members of the Dividend Champions Club—meaning they have increased their dividend every year for 25 years or more. In fact, they each have hiked payouts to shareholders for the past 53 years. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend now sits at $3.00 a share. Coca-Cola’s is $1.32 a share.

DRIVERS SHIFTING

Michael Fossaceca, head of TTS, North America, at Citi, says banks, as well as corporates, are maintaining their focus on enhancing shareholder returns—and thus desire to keep balance sheets efficient. “The combination of greater regulatory value and emphasis on operational deposits together with a shareholder-return- driven focus on efficient balance sheets, shows how corporate and bank relationship management drivers have really shifted,” he says. “Banks now are scrutinizing their deposits for the ‘right’ type of deposits—those linked to cash management and other transactional business.”

This trend is even more acute in Europe, where negative ECB interest rates have been in place since late last year, notes Laurens Tijdhof, a partner at treasury consultancy Zanders. “Corporates are currently operating in a historically low interest-rate environment, fueled by the ECB, [which] pushed its deposit rate to -0.2% in September 2014,” he notes. “This drives down yields on short-term deposits and investments.” He notes that a large Swiss wealth manager recently announced it is passing on the cost of the ECB’s negative interest rate to its institutional clients. Similarly, Tijdhof says a large Belgian bank announced it is applying negative interest rates on short-term deposits by very large corporates.

 This puts pressure on companies to move affected deposits into short-term, liquid investment vehicles. Patricia Hines, senior analyst at consultancy Celent, says corporates with non-operational cash deposits may find them difficult to place in overnight investments. “Many banks are reducing their non-operating deposits, either by encouraging corporates to place their funds elsewhere or by creating new investment products such as 31+ CDs, money market funds and repurchase agreements to avoid the LCR [Liquidity Coverage Ratio] charge on excess balances.”

PRIME CHALLENGE

But given the changing regulatory environment—particularly the new rules for money market funds—corporates are concerned about what to do about prime money funds, notes Brad Vollmer, treasurer at biotech firm Gilead Science. “We use prime money market funds for daily liquidity. We are now looking at how we morph our program with the new SEC rules coming into play next August. We want to move—but not too early—and we want to be able to easily move back if nothing happens,” says Vollmer. “We want to make sure we have the right processes and strategies in place so we can adapt and change when any new rule comes into play.”

According to the Association for Financial Professionals’ 2015 Liquidity Survey, the overall allocation of short-term cash to bank deposits has grown significantly, rising to 56% in 2015 from 37% in 2009. “With new money market fund rules,” notes Fossaceca, “nearly half of respondents anticipate their companies will either discontinue investing in prime funds altogether, or move some or all of their holdings out of prime funds. Allocation of short-term cash to money market funds and T-Bills [fell] from 41% to 21% in the period from 2009 to 2015.”

Companies are looking at both new deposit accounts and ultra-short bond funds as alternatives. The changes are also pushing companies to consider allocating part of their portfolios to asset managers via separately managed accounts. Notes Vollmer: “We outsource most of our money management. We are not in the business of managing money, so we hire pros to do it.” He believes the new regulations will push many companies to use outside managers. “A lot of companies will go to having a portion of their portfolio in separately managed accounts,” he says. Vollmer anticipates that companies will also use ultra-short funds along with US government funds for daily liquidity.

Despite the challenges­—inconsistent, onerous regulatory regimes, a strong US dollar and activist shareholders—corporate cash continues to grow. Global market volatility is of great concern, notes Enrico Camerinelli, senior analyst at consultancy Aite Group. “Security of principal, liquidity, and yield are, in that order, the priorities of corporate treasurers.”

Greg Kavanaugh, head of global core cash management, global transaction services, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, adds: “The level of corporate cash is at an all-time high and this trend looks like it will continue for the foreseeable future.”

 


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TOP 25 GLOBAL PUBLIC COMPANIES BY CASH ON BALANCE SHEET

METHODOLOGY

The Global Finance Cash 25 ranks public companies by cash, cash equivalents and short-term securities on their balance sheets. Data is gathered from more than 70,000 public companies worldwide. It is a ranking of nonfinancial corporations—we exclude financial institutions from the list.

Rank
Company
Country
Latest Reporting Year
Cash*
($mn)
Cash* ($mn) Previous Year
Change (YoY $m)
Total
Assets
($m)
Capex
($m)

1

GENERAL ELECTRIC

United States

2014

90,021

88,555

1,466

646,997

-13,727

2

MICROSOFT

United States

2014

85,465

76,775

8,690

172,384

-5,485

3

CISCO SYSTEMS

United States

2014

52,074

50,610

1,464

105,134

-1,275

4

TOYOTA MOTOR

Japan

2013

41,500

34,739

6,761

402,892

N/A

5

PFIZER

United States

2014

36,122

32,408

3,714

169,274

-1,583

6

JOHNSON & JOHNSON

United States

2014

33,089

29,206

3,883

131,119

-3,714

7

GENERAL MOTORS

United States

2014

28,176

28,993

-817

177,677

-11,867

8

AMGEN

United States

2014

27,026

19,401

7,625

69,009

-1,003

9

TOTAL

France

2014

26,474

20,939

5,535

229,798

N/A

10

APPLE

United States

2014

25,077

40,546

-15,469

231,839

-9,813

11

VODAFONE

United Kingdom

2013

24,221

19,479

4,742

202,778

N/A

12

COCA-COLA

United States

2014

21,675

20,268

1,407

92,023

-2,406

13

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY

Taiwan

2014

21,572

23,179

-1,607

77,724

N/A

14

SOFTBANK

Japan

2013

20,523

14,592

5,931

162,227

N/A

15

DAIMLER

Germany

2014

20,283

25,051

-4,769

230,236

N/A

16

HYUNDAI MOTOR

South Korea

2014

19,969

6,924

13,044

133,926

N/A

17

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS

South Korea

2014

18,309

16,840

1,469

209,609

N/A

18

SONY

Japan

2013

18,270

16,186

2,083

149,088

N/A

19

QUALCOMM

United States

2014

17,565

14,966

2,599

48,574

-1,185

20

AMAZON

United States

2014

17,416

12,447

4,969

54,505

-4,893

21

RENAULT

France

2014

17,030

17,596

-566

99,011

N/A

22

MERCK

United States

2014

15,719

17,486

-1,767

98,335

-1,317

23

HEWLETT-PACKARD

United States

2014

15,133

12,163

2,970

103,206

-3,853

24

MITSUBISHI

Japan

2013

14,339

15,893

-1,554

154,605

N/A

25

MEDTRONIC

Ireland

2014

14,241

11,071

3,170

37,943

N/A

 

Total

 

 

721,287

666,313

54,974

 

-62,121

*Includes cash, cash equivalents and short-term securities (those maturing between three months and a year).  Data valid as of July 23, 2015.


Next Page: TOP REGIONAL PUBLIC COMPANIES BY CASH ON BALANCE SHEET
 


 


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TOP REGIONAL PUBLIC COMPANIES BY CASH ON BALANCE SHEET

North America | Western Europe | Central & Eastern Europe | Asia-Pacific | Africa | Latin America | Middle East

North America

GE once again tops the list of North American companies by cash on balance sheet, but this may change as GE is in the midst of a much-publicized sale of $100 billion in assets. It’s planing $200 million in total asset sales. mostly from its finance arm, with $200 billion in total sales planned as it refocuses on industrial businesses and drop its designation as a systemically important financial institution. Proceeds will go in part to fund $50 billion in share buybacks announced in April.

Two names that make the regional list but do not appear in the global ranking are Intel, at 14th with $14.1 billion in cash, and Chevron. The energy company is 15th in the ranking with $13.2 billion. Both made the regional ranking last year, as well. Verizon and Oracle drop off the list this year, pushing Cisco to 3rd from 4th place, and Pfizer from 7th to 4th. Apple falls from 5th last year to 8th this year, after a $15.5 billion cash decline.

Amazon is new to the North America regional list this year, coming in 11th in the ranking, with $17.4 billion in cash and short-term investments—up from $12.4 billion. Cash and short-term investments held by the top 15 companies in North America totals $687.8 billion. (back to top)

Rank
Company
Country
Reporting Year
Cash* ($m)
Cash* ($m) Previous Year
Change YoY ($m)

1

GENERAL ELECTRIC

United States

2014

90,021

88,555

1,466

2

MICROSOFT

United States

2014

85,465

76,775

8,690

3

CISCO SYSTEMS

United States

2014

52,074

50,610

1,464

4

PFIZER

United States

2014

36,122

32,408

3,714

5

JOHNSON & JOHNSON

United States

2014

33,089

29,206

3,883

6

GENERAL MOTORS

United States

2014

28,176

28,993

-817

7

AMGEN

United States

2014

27,026

19,401

7,625

8

APPLE

United States

2014

25,077

40,546

-15,469

9

COCA-COLA

United States

2014

21,675

20,268

1,407

10

QUALCOMM

United States

2014

17,565

14,966

2,599

11

AMAZON

United States

2014

17,416

12,447

4,969

12

MERCK

United States

2014

15,719

17,486

-1,767

13

HEWLETT-PACKARD

United States

2014

15,133

12,163

2,970

14

INTEL

United States

2014

14,054

20,087

-6,033

15

CHEVRON

United States

2014

13,215

16,516

-3,301


Western Europe

There are big changes in the regional list for Western Europe. Many of the firms in the top 15 are new to the group. Diversified French energy company Total and UK telco Vodafone both surpass Germany’s Daimler as the most cash-rich companies in Western Europe. Total boasts $26.5 billion in cash on its balance sheet, up from about $21 billion. Vodafone has $24.2 billion, an increase from $19.5 billion last year.

The list includes five German, three French and two Swiss companies, and one each from Finland, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK. Newcomers include  Medtronic—a US medical-device maker headquartered in Ireland—Swiss pharma outfit Novartis, food giant Nestle, Germany’s BMW and energy group RWE, Telecom Italia and Spanish engineering firm Grupo ACS.

Firms with the greatest year-on-year rise in cash and short-term investments include Novartis, Total and Vodafone. Novartis added $6.4 billion to its cash pile. Total added $5.5 billion. Vodafone increased its cash reserves by $4.7 billion. Novartis began a major restructuring last year, which includes the sale of around $30 billion in assets, as well as a few purchases.

Cash held by the 15 most cash-rich companies in Western Europe totals $524.4 billion. (back to top)

Rank
Company
Country
Reporting Year
Cash* ($m)
Cash* ($m) Previous Year
Change YoY ($m)

1

TOTAL

France

2014

26,474

20,939

5,535

2

VODAFONE

United Kingdom

2013

24,221

19,479

4,742

3

DAIMLER

Germany

2014

20,283

25,051

-4,769

4

RENAULT

France

2014

17,030

17,596

-566

5

MEDTRONIC

Ireland

2014

14,241

11,071

3,170

6

NOVARTIS

Switzerland

2014

13,506

7,068

6,438

7

DEUTSCHE TELEKOM

Germany

2014

12,605

10,991

1,613

8

SIEMENS

Germany

2014

11,247

13,223

-1,976

9

TELECOM ITALIA

Italy

2013

9,906

11,468

-1,562

10

NOKIA

Finland

2014

9,367

12,372

-3,005

11

BMW

Germany

2014

9,334

10,579

-1,245

12

Grupo ACS

Spain

2013

9,308

8,236

1,072

13

RWE

Germany

2014

9,204

9,327

-123

14

NESTLE.

Switzerland

2014

8,979

7,911

1,067

15

SANOFI

France

2014

8,924

11,469

-2,545


Central & Eastern Europe

The list of the top 10 companies by cash on balance sheet in the region is once again dominated by Russian names: seven of the 10 firms are from the country, and there is one each from the Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey. Oil & gas company Lukoil leads the ranking, with $3.2 billion in cash, followed by fertilizer company Uralkali, with $2.2 billion. The highest-ranking non-Russian firm—in 6th place, versus 9th place last year—is Ceska Posta, with $647 million in cash. That’s down from $687 million last year. The biggest drop in cash on balance sheet is Russian oil producer Surgutneftegas, which came in 1st last year with $14.6 billion in cash. The company this year ranks 8th, with just $509 million in cash. (back to top)

Rank
Company
Country
Reporting Year
Cash* ($m)
Cash* ($m) Previous Year
Change YoY ($m)

1

LUKOIL

Russia

2014

3,238

2,075

1,163

2

URALKALI

Russia

2014

2,155

933

1,222

3

MOL Group

Russia

2014

1,645

2,647

-1,002

4

MOSKOVSKY METROPOLITEN

Russia

2013

1,201

1,754

-553

5

RUSSIAN HIGHWAYS
STATE COMPANY

Russia

2013

1,043

1,813

-770

6

CESKA POSTA

Czech Republic

2013

647

687

-40

7

KOZA İPEK HOLDİNG

Turkey

2013

543

678

-135

8

SURGUTNEFTEGAS

Russia

2014

509

14,578

-14,068

9

ACRON

Russia

2014

507

695

-188

10

ASSECO POLAND

Poland

2014

390

284

106


Asia-Pacific

Toyota takes over from Petronas as the top-ranking firm by cash on balance sheet in the region, with $41.5 billion. The biggest increase year-on-year goes to Hyundai Motor—which did not make the top 10 last year, but comes in 4th this go-round, with $20 billion on balance sheet. That’s a sizable increase of $13 billion over last year. The Asia-Pac list contains a number of other firms that also added significantly to their cash reserves, including Toyota (up $6.8 billion), SoftBank (up $5.9 billion) and Taiwan Semiconductor (up $5.6 billion). (back to top)

Rank
Company
Country
Reporting Year
Cash* ($m)
Cash* ($m) Previous Year
Change YoY ($m)

1

TOYOTA MOTOR

Japan

2013

41,500

34,739

6,761

2

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY

Taiwan

2014

21,572

23,179

-1,607

3

SOFTBANK

Japan

2013

20,523

14,592

5,931

4

HYUNDAI MOTOR

South Korea

2014

19,969

6,924

13,044

5

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS

South Korea

2014

18,309

16,840

1,469

6

SONY

Japan

2013

18,270

16,186

2,083

7

RAKUTEN

Japan

2014

14,705

17,200

-2,495

8

MITSUBISHI

Japan

2013

14,339

15,893

-1,554

9

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR

Taiwan

2014

13,789

8,167

5,623

10

RIO TINTO

Australia

2014

12,423

10,216

2,207


Africa

Sasol takes over from Lafarge as the top company by cash on balance sheet, with $3.5 billion, up from $2.7 billion last year. Lafarge drops off the list this year. Golden Agri-Resources of Mauritius is the only company not from South Africa that makes the list, moving up to 9th place from 10th last year, with $591 million in cash reserves. Anglogold Ashanti and Murray & Roberts join Lafarge in dropping off the list, replaced by SCAW Metals (4th with $979 million in cash), Woolworths (No. 5) and Grindrod (No. 10.). (back to top)

Rank
Company
Country
Reporting Year
Cash* ($m)
Cash* ($m) Previous Year
Change YoY ($m)

1

SASOL

South Africa

2014

3,544

2,654

890

2

STEINHOFF
INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS

 

2014

1,541

917

625

3

NASPERS

 

2013

1,292

1,702

-410

4

SCAW METALS

South Africa

2012

979

n.a.

N?A

5

WOOLWORTHS

 

2014

900

157

743

6

THE BIDVEST GROUP

 

2014

834

838

-4

7

ASPEN PHARMACARE

 

2014

776

605

171

8

SHOPRITE

South Africa

2014

770

607

163

9

GOLDEN AGRI-RESOURCES

Mauritius

2014

591

587

4

10

GRINDROD

 

2013

579

534

45


Latin America

The top companies in the region by cash on balance sheet continue to be dominated by global companies headquartered in offshore domiciles such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Curaçao. Schlumberger, which is domiciled in Curaçao and supplies technology to energy companies, leads the list once again, with $7.5 billion in cash on balance sheet. That’s down from $8.4 billion last year, however. Five companies in the ranking are based in the Cayman Islands (mostly Chinese firms that are domiciled there), three companies are Brazilian, and one each hails from Chile and Mexico. (back to top)

Rank
Company
Country
Reporting Year
Cash* ($m)
Cash* ($m) Previous Year
Change YoY ($m)

1

SCHLUMBERGER

Curaçao

2014

7,501

8,370

-869

2

HENGAN INTERNATIONAL

 Cayman Islands

2014

2,746

2,531

215

3

MARVELL TECHNOLOGY

Bermuda

2014

2,530

1,969

560

4

BRF

Brazil

2014

2,483

1,524

959

5

EMBRAER

Brazil

2014

2,424

2,611

-187

6

SINA CORP

 Cayman Islands

2014

2,167

1,868

298

7

CTRIP.COM

 Cayman Islands

2014

2,055

1,887

169

8

BUNGE

Bermuda

2014

1,813

904

909

9

QIHOO 360
TECHNOLOGY

 Cayman Islands

2014

1,706

1,017

689

10

LATAM AIRLINES
GROUP

Chile

2014

1,640

2,695

-1,055

11

ULTRAPAR

Brazil

2014

1,608

1,455

152

12

BELLE INTERNATIONAL

 Cayman Islands

2013

1,588

1,339

249

13

GRUPO TELEVISA

Mexico

2013

1,561

1,874

-313


Middle East

Teva Pharmaceuticals of Israel rises from 6th last year to take the top spot in the region by cash and short-term investments, reporting $2.2 billion this year from $1 billion last year. Saudi Arabia’s Tasnee moves to 2nd from 4th, with $1.2 billion in cash, and Kuwait’s Zain remains in 3rd with $1.2 billion. New entrants include Qatar Navigation, Dubai Investments, Sipchem of Saudi Arabia and Israel’s Paz Oil. (back to top)

Rank
Company
Country
Reporting Year
Cash* ($m)
Cash* ($m) Previous Year
Change YoY ($m)

1

TEVA PHARMACEUTICAL
INDUSTRIES

IL

2014

2,226

1,038

1,188

2

TASNEE

SA

2014

1,217

1,382

-165

3

ZAIN

KW

2014

1,180

1,422

-242

4

CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES

IL

2013

1,167

1,503

-337

5

QATAR NAVIGATION

QA

2014

1,031

560

471

6

DUBAI INVESTMENTS

AE

2014

782

305

478

7

RAFAEL ADVANCED
DEFENSE SYSTEMS

IL

2013

720

829

-109

8

SIPCHEM

SA

2014

656

762

-106

9

NATIONAL INDUSTRIES

KW

2014

603

615

-12

10

PAZ OIL

IL

2013

561

28

533

*Includes cash, cash equivalents and short-term securities (those maturing between three months and a year).  Data valid as of July 23, 2015.

Data provided by: Orbis by Bureau van Dijk


Previous Page: TOP 25 GLOBAL PUBLIC COMPANIES BY CASH ON BALANCE SHEET


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