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Top 500 firms book stellar sales amid boom

Germany’s top 500 companies are booming, lifting their sales by nearly 12 percent last financial year, the largest rise in more than a decade, a survey has found.

Published: 20 June 2011 11:47 CEST

Top 500 firms book stellar sales amid boom

Photo: DPA

Daily Die Welt’s annual company ranking, “Germany’s Top 500,” reported on Monday that carmaker Volkswagen is far and away the revenue king, earning €126.9 billion last financial year, a rise of 20.6 percent.

Fellow automaker Daimler came in second place with €97.8 billion, a jump of 23.9 percent. Utility company Eon has the third highest revenue with €92.9, a rise of 13.5 percent.

The 500 largest firms all have earnings of more than €1 billion. In 2009, during the dark days of Germany’s worst post-war recession, the same survey recorded an average sales slump of 8 percent.

The latest boom is the greatest since 2000, when the top 500 grew their sales by an average of 17.1 percent. Last year’s exact rise was 11.8 percent on average.

Chemical firm BASF had the fastest growth, with 26 percent, reaching €63.9 billion, jumping from tenth to sixth place.

The survey also shows that the top 500 grew their global workforces by an average of 2.9 percent. Employment growth is well below sales growth because most firms didn’t lay people off during the depths of the crisis but rather used schemes like Kurzarbeit, putting them on shorter working hours.

The state that houses the headquarters of most big companies is North Rhine-Westphalia with 144. These companies have a combined turnover of €1.24 trillion. Bavaria is second with 91 firms and Hesse third with 75.

DPA/The Local/djw

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Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions.

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds.

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local.

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with.

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