Germany: TOP 20 Manufacturing Companies

While less than 5% of all companies registered in Germany are engaged in manufacturing, there are 4 manufacturing companies on the list of Germany’s top 10 companies in terms of sales.

Companies on the list of top 20 manufacturing companies in Germany focus on various areas - from automotive and construction, through medical materials, to chemical and pharmaceutical production.

There are 7 companies from the car manufacturing sector and 5 companies operating in the chemical industry. Two companies are engaged in the production of medical devices and materials. One company focuses both on manufacturing and energy.Then one company from each of the following sectors - building materials, clothing, mechanical engineering, processing of mineral raw materials, production of software solutions.

This analysis is based on data available at HitHorizons financial and credit reports, containing financial information and analysis, full company credit check, group structure, contacts and more.

Mercedes-Benz Group AG had the highest profit before tax in 2021

VOLKSWAGEN AG had been the company with the highest profit before tax for a very long time. In 2021 it was surpassed by Mercedes-Benz Group AG with earnings before tax (EBT) of EUR 28B, while VOLKSWAGEN AG had EBT of more than EUR 20B. In 2021, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), was also able to increase EBT from EUR 5.2B in 2020 to EUR 16B in 2021.

The only company on our list with a negative EBT was HeidelbergCement AG with a loss of EUR 1.6B.

Car manufacturers had the the highest earnings after tax (EAT) in 2021

The most profitable company in 2021 was Mercedes-Benz Group AG with a net profit of more than EUR 23.3B. VOLKSWAGEN AG was second with EUR 15.4B. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) was third with a net profit of more than EUR 12.4B.

The only company on our list with a negative EAT was HeidelbergCement AG, which had a loss of more than EUR 2B.

The strongest companies had a double-digit profit margin

In terms of the profit margin (how many euros a company can earn per 1 euro of sales), however, companies from the automotive industry are not leading on our list, despite the fact that their profit margin increased in 2021. The best is the software company SAP SE, which was able to earn more than 19 cents from one euro of sales in 2021. MERCK KG auf Aktien was second with a profit margin of 15% and Mercedes-Benz Group AG was third with a profit margin of less than 14% (in 2020 it had a profit margin of only 3.86%).

The manufacturing sector in Germany is highly concentrated. In 2021, in terms of sales, car producers were the strongest (Volkswagen AG, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, BMW). In the case of profit before or after tax, only the order of the first three companies changed, where Mercedes-Benz Group AG overtook Volkswagen AG. In terms of profit margin, the software company SAP AG is in the best position - in the last two years the company was able to convert one euro of sales into a net profit of more than 19 cents.

If you want to do a more detailed analysis of European companies, you can use HitHorizons Financial Reports. Financial Reports allows users to search in the European database of company reports, and the results can be downloaded as PDFs or JSON files for further processing in any software.