Top 10 FMCG companies in the world

The FMCG sector, also known as CPG, has some of the most gigantic companies,
products of which people world over use daily. The list has leading brands like P&G,
Unilever, Nestle above top global beverage brands like Coca Cola, Pepsi, AB Inbev.
The list is completed with companies like Philip Morris, Lreal, Mondelez & JBS.
Here is the list of the top 10 FMCG companies in World in 2015.

10. Philip Morris International

Known for its best-selling cigarette brand Marlboro, Philip Morris International is an
American global cigarette and Tobacco Company which sells tobacco products in
over 200 countries. Marlboro is the international best-selling cigarette brand. It has
6 brands among the top 15 cigarette brands. In 2014 it held 15.6% of international
market for cigarette outside U.S. Considering that only 6 tobacco companies control
over 81% of the cigarette market and the increasing number of people are getting
addicted to cigarette this company has great prospects for growth and increasing
revenues. The only hurdle which like most of the tobacco companies it has faced is
regulatory for ex: in April 2014 it closed down its factory in Australia due to highly
demanding fire-safety measures
Philip Morris International became an individual company as a spin-off from Altria
group in 2008. Revenues from U.S operation are not part of Philip Morris
International as its brands there are owned by Altria group of which it previously
was a part of. The reason for spin off is stated as Altria wanted Philip Morris
International to focus on emerging markets like India and China where it has huge
potential for growth. Altria group was known as Philip Morris companies till 2003.
Interestingly since 1988 it owned Kraft foods which were previously associated with
Mondelez International ranked 8 in our list, whose stake it sold in 2007. History of
Philip Morris can be traced back to a small cigarette and tobacco shop owned by
Philip Morris. Since then it expanded in European and American Markets through
series of mergers and acquisition and establishing manufacturing facilities across
the world. Currently it is headquartered in New York City. The company has around
In 2014 it recorded revenue of around $23 billion and profit of around $3.3 billion.
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9. JBS S.A
JBS S.A is the only non-European and non-American company in the list of top 10.
Headquartered in Annapolis, Brazil the company is named after its founder Jose
Batista Sobrinho who was a rancher in Annapolis and founded the company in 1953.

This company is the largest producer of factory processed meat which includes
beef, pork etc. Till 1980s it was a local company with manufacturing plants in Brazil
only. Since then it has followed a global export growth model wherein major beef
producing countries have its plants from where it exports beef to the whole world. It
has expanded its size following a series of mergers and acquisitions which helped
them to enter allied market like Pork and consolidate existing markets. In 2007 its
acquisition of U.S based Swift & Company made it a major player in American
market and in 2009 its acquisition of Gurpo Bertin which was one of the market
leader in Brazil made it the biggest player in the world.
Currently it has beef and pork processing plants in major meat consuming market
Brazil, Argentina, U.S.A and Australia and through this plants in exports to 110 meat
markets 2014 it recorded revenues of $45 billion and profit of about 0.895 billion.
Among the top 10 FMCG companies list JBS group has the least per dollar profit
which indicates that currently it is in expanding mode with recent acquisition of
Tyson Foods' subsidies in 2014. Also it holds significant stake in Pilgrim Pride in U.S,
making its presence felt in poultry business in U.S and it also had made bid for
acquiring hillshire brands in U.S Once it starts consolidating its operations and
synergies from various acquisition starts reflecting its profits are bound to rise.
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8. Mondelez international
Famous for its Cadbury brand named after one of its founder John Cadbury ;
Mondelez international is an American Multinational conglomerate which operates
mainly in food and confectionary business. The color of Cadbury has been patented
by the company. Mondelez. It is headquartered in Deerfield, Illionois in Chicago. In
2012 it changed its name from Kraft foods to Mondelez International. The name was
proposed by Kraft Foods employees which is combination of two words world and
delicious in latin language. Just like its name the company aims to serve the taste
buds of humanity world-wide through its delicious milk products. In 2012 a spin-off
happened in which the grocery business was named as Kraft foods and the other
food and confectionary business was renamed as Mondelez International. It
recorded net profit $ 3.8 billion in 2014. In 2014 it announced its acquisition with
Douwe Egberts a dutch tea manufacturing company increasing its portfolios of
brands

Mondelez International's history can be traced back to two companies National

Dairy Products and Kraft foods. National Dairy Products Corporation was formed in

1923 by Thomas H. McInnerney which competed in dairy market of America. Its

current headquarter is the location of an ice-cream company named Hydrox
Corporation operated by Thomas McInnerney. Kraft foods was formed in 1909 by
James Kraft and his brothers and they specialized in making pasteurized processed
cheese. The U.S dairy market saw consolidation and National Dairy merged with
Kraft and this followed a series of acquisition of various companies like Dart, Philip
Morris etc. Its most famous brand Cadbury was added to its portfolio in 2010 when
Kraft acquired Cadbury group for 19.5 billion. The takeover was initially rejected in
2009 by Cadbury due to lower-valuation and resistance from government but finally
succeeded making kraft and big player in food and confectionery market.
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7. LOreal Group
LOreal is a world leader in beauty and cosmetic segment, Headquartered in Paris. It
is present in over 130 countries and owns over 32 international brands. It aims to
provide unisex beauty solutions and is active in research and innovations in the
same field. Unique thing about this group in the list is the number of patents it has
in the fields like nano-technology, dermatology, tissue re-engineering etc. To make
innovation possible it has 6 research centers world-wide including a research center
in India. Its origins are traced in 1909 where a French chemist Eugene Schuller
developed a hair dyeing formula and based his company on research and innovation
which L'Oreal still follows. Nestle S.A ranked 2nd in the list has 24% stake in the
group which it continues to hold. L'Oreal group has also diversified into other
sectors like Pharmaceuticals by purchasing Synthelabo in 1973 but later was
acquired by Sanofi. In coming years it plans to compete based on innovation as well
as environment friendly solutions for sustainable growth.
Loreal biggest strength has been to connect the new brands acquired or develop
with the groups identity creating Omni channel retail strategy which has been the
strategies of other players too in the sector. In 2014 it recorded annual sales of $26
billion and $3.3 billion of profit. It pioneered in creating travel retail as a separate
distribution channel wherein L'Oreal owned products were customized after
identifying travel profiles at airports across the globe. L'Oreal currently owns over
500 brands and has significant presence in all the sub-segments of beauty sector
like hair colour, skin care, cleansers, makeup, fragrances, permanents, hair styling
etc. It has done significant acquisitions in its 100 years of history the recent being
acquisition of The body Shop which increased its presence in the store ownership
segment in 2006 and Chinese beauty brand Magic Holdings in 2014.
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6. Anheuser-Busch InBev
Owner of the king of beers BudWiser this company is the worlds largest brewer
owning 25% of market share. AB InBev is a company formed through series of
mergers. 3 companies InterBrew, Ambev and Anheuser Busch currently merged
together form AB InBev. InterBrew is a result of merger of two biggest Belgian
brewers and Ambev is a result of merger of two biggest Brazilian brewers. Interbrew
and AmBev merged in 2004 to form InBev which in 2008 merged with American
brewer Anheuser Busch to form AB-InBev. In our list this company is with the oldest
history starting from 1336 where Den Hoorn an belgian brewer company was
established which later became Interbrew.

The company has also grown through acquisition, the latest being that of Grupo
Mondelo owner of Corona brand. It is the least diversified company in the list with
beer being source of more than 95% of its revenues. This limits its scope but Its lack
of presence in markets like Africa also indicates potential opportunity to
growth.Currently it has over 200 beer brands in its portfolio and 16 brands are
making more than 1 billion in revenues. It has brewing operations present in 25
countries and sells its product in over 100 countries. It recorded revenues of $46
billion in 2014 with net profit of $14 billion which is highest among the top 6
companies The Company follows a focused brand strategy with major investment
on select brands. It classifies its brands as global, international and local and has
different strategies for each segement. In 2013 it also opened a Bud Analytics Lab
and plans to use analytics extensively in its further business strategies. It is the only
company in the list to claim to be using analytics for operations, social media and
large scale data science.
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5. Coco-Cola
In 1985 whole of the world rejoiced when Coco-Cola decided to bring back its old
flavored Coke and recall New Coke. Such is the effect this company has on the
world. Famous for its innovative marketing campaign this brand was ranked 3rd by
Forbes in its global brand list.It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Coca COla
company was formed by Asa Griggs Candler in 1892 and since then it follows the
franchise model in which it sells the concentrated syrup of coca cola to various

bottlers who manage the distribution across the world. Its formula originated from a
medical syrup developed to give instant energy and refreshment and is kept in a
secret vault at its headquartered and is believed to be known to only few employees
of the company

It has increased its portfolio through series of acquisitions like minute maid and
Indian brand Thums-up.It has 17 billion dollar plus brands and has 2014 revenues of
around $49 billion with net profit of around $7 billion. It had also tried to diversify
into unrelated business like purchase of columbia pictures in 80s but later it sold it
to Sony to focus on its core products. It has built the brand over the years through
emotional connect of Coke and claims to sell happiness rather than just a soft drink.
Unlike its most famous rival Pepsi Coco-cola is less diversified in other food and
snacks businesses. Its focused strategy has resulted into it being the largest softdrink seller in the world. Coco cola has received a lot of criticism for health related
effects of its flagship brand. Following the recent trend in software industry
regarding the health concerns, Coco cola is strongly promoting calorie free products
like Coke Zero, Diet coke etc.
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4. PepsiCo
The name might mislead you in believing that PepsiCo is a company that sells Pepsi
and some other aerated drinks. But PepsiCo in its present form has a global portfolio
of brands.PepsiCo has origins somewhat similar to Coca-Cola where the Pepsi
formula changed hands and Charles Guth in 1931 finally formed Pepsi Cola
company. It expanded through acquisitions of beverage like Mountain Dew pre- 60s
and finally 1966 by merger of Pepsi and Fritolay PepsiCo in its present form was
created. PepsiCo aims to be largest food and Beverages Company. Also the aerated
drinks business which has made its name famous accounts for less than 50 % of its
total revenues. It is largest food and Beverages Company in United States and
ranked 2nd after Nestle in the world. Its major growth is attributed to series of
acquisition of brands like Geotorade, Tropicana and Quarter Oats.

Its CEO is Indira Nooyi is of Indian origins and has been successfully leading the
company since 2006. Its acquisition spree in food business has given itself access to
markets like Russia through companies like William-Bann Foods. Also to compete
with Coco-cola it has acquired the two largest bottling companies in North America
and established themselves as subsidaries of PepsiCo. This diversification has

helped PepsiCo survived downturns and given PepSiCo resources to expand more
rapidly. In 2014 it recorded $66.415 billion revenue and close to $6.8 billion of
profits closing in with diversified company like Unilever even though its portfolio is
limited to food and beverages segment. It is present in over 200 countries. PepsiCo
also had a significant stake in famous brands like Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC etc but in
1997 it divested its stake with the main purpose of focusing on snacks and
beverages businesses.
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3. Unilever
Co-headquartered in Rosterdam and London this British Dutch company is one of
the largest FMCG companies. It is famous for its products like Lipton, Lux, Knorr,
Dove, Ponds etc. Founded in 1929 with merger of Lever brothers and Margarine
Unie this company mainly deals in food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal
care products. Unilever has over 400 brands operational and claims to touch lives
of over 2 billion people every day through its products. Unilever has its business
divided into 4 major segment of which personal care segment is the highest
revenue generating business. Till 1997 Unilever had a huge present in chemical
manufacturing but then it divested its chemical business as ICI and focus mainly on
consumer segment.
It its 100 years of history Unilever made series of acquisition
like Lipton, Brooke Bond, Ben and Jerry's etc. In 2014 Unilever recorded over $68.5
billion in revenue and $7.8 billion in profits .Although it lacks behind in terms of
revenue compared to the top 2, it aims for a sustainable business models which is
visible by its activities around the globe. By 2020 it has promised to reduce the
carbon footprints produced by its manufacturing units to half and improve
sustainability in terms of agriculture sourcing benefiting lives of thousands of its
suppliers. Having vast operations across the world owning over 400 brands and
subsidiaries in almost 100 countries this company is clearly poised to give a tough
fight to top 2 in terms of revenues, profits as well as brand equity. Unilever has
followed a subsidiary model partnering with local intelligence to market their
products. Hindustan UniLever is their notable subsidy in which it holds 67.25% of
stake..
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2. Nestle S.A
Headquartered in Switzerland and present in over 194 countries, this company is
famous for its brands like Nescafe, Maggie, KitKat etc. Even though it operates
mainly in its food and confectionary business leaving the personal care segment
empty it is the biggest FMCG Company in terms of revenues. Its tag line Good food
good life indicates how it has approached its business. Nestle was considered to be
the most profitable company by Fortune Magazine in the year 2011. Nestle in its
present form has its origins in 1866 where two separate entities for baby food and
milk chocolates were founded. Later series of mergers added more products to its
portfolio. The two world wars had a huge role to play in Nestls innovations in milk
segment like milk powder, Nescafe etc. and it cashed heavily in terms of war
contracts.
Nestle is owner of flagship brand Maggie which it acquired in 1947 which has helped
to increase its revenues significantly in recent years. Nestl has 8,000 brands with a
wide range of products across a number of markets, including coffee, bottled water,
milkshakes and other beverages, breakfast cereals, infant foods, performance and
healthcare nutrition, seasonings, soups and sauces, frozen and refrigerated foods,
and pet food.In 2014 it recorded revenues of $91 billion and profit of around $10
billion. Nestles lack of diversification has been reflected in its results which see
changes as per the growth of food segment. Interestingly Nestle has a significant
stake in LOral group which itself a mammoth in beauty segment. Being away
from the segment an acquisition of LOral can make Nestle much larger in compare
to its competitors in FMCG segment and can also help Nestle diversify in Cosmetics
segment.
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1. Proctor and Gamble

Topping the list with Gillette being its most powerful global brand this company has
over 150 years of History. Founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble
this company is older than many countries. It has survived the industrial age, 2
world wars and has successfully entered the digital age constantly reinventing itself.
Based out of Ohio, USA P&G is present in many sectors like skin-care, health care,
food etc. It owned more than 300 brands before the start of 2014 but now has
decided to focus on its major brands and is dropping many brands.
In 2014 it had total revenue of $83 billion and an increased net profit of $11.6 billion
for the fiscal year of 2014. It has presence over 180 countries which fairly explains
how big mammoth this company is. Its top 50 brands represents 90% of its business

and this fairly explains its renewed plans to focus on them shifting from a more
complex company to a simpler one. The company is a mix of old consistent brands
like Tide and newly acquired brands like Gillette. Its diversification protects itself
from a sub-sector slowdown and it has been one of the main reason for its
sustainability in long-term.
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To arrive at this list following methodology was used

Step 1: Top 15 companies were shortlisted based on their revenues
Step 2: 3 parameters Revenues, Profits and Number of markets present in were
scaled using Min-Max Normalization
Step 3: Clusters were formed based on these 3 parameters such that companies
similar on these three parameters were clustered together. This resulted into 4
clusters of top 3,1,5,1 companies. To cluster these companies they were visualized
using graphs
Step 4: Based on the rank of their most powerful brand inter-cluster ranking was
done.

Data Sources:
1. Companies annual reports to know their revenues and profits and websites to
know number of markets present in
2. Forbes top brand list for inter-cluster ranking