Forbes rates Standard Bank best South African company

SHOOT: My best friend works there and it really does seem like a particularly good company, intelligent, insightful, with a particularly rich and informed talent pool. There is a bit of an in-joke that the guys at Standard Bank never sleep (though not for the reasons you might imagine - because they're out cycling at 5am before work).

clipped from www.businessday.co.za SEVENTEEN South African companies, headed by Standard Bank, have been included in the annual world’s top 2000 quoted companies compiled by US publisher Forbes. Standard Bank was placed at number 223, up from 522 last year, an improvement that CEO Jacko Maree said this week showed South African companies were now major players in the global corporate sector. Apart from Standard, other local companies on the list are Sasol at number 305, FirstRand (332), MTN (382), Impala Platinum (772), Telkom (786), Gold Fields (1097), Bidvest (1102), Sanlam (1142), Remgro (1220), Naspers (1240), AngloGold Ashanti (1408), Steinhoff (1461), African Rainbow Minerals (1664), RMB Holdings (1740), Shoprite (1749) and Harmony Gold (1958). Construction group Aveng, transport and logistics firm Imperial and diversified industrial group Barloworld, which were on last year’s list, have been dropped. An analyst said this could reflect how their fortunes had been affected by the tough times in their sectors.