These are the Top 100 highest-grossing companies in Malaga province

Nuria Triguero

Malaga

Monday, 31 March 2025, 15:13

There are many long-established companies founded by families in the 'top 100' companies in Malaga province. Among them are Primor, Mayoral, Famadesa, Faccsa, Bonifacio Solís, Costasol de Hipermercados, Maskom and Montosa. Experience certainly counts in this ranking of the companies with the highest turnover in the province, although there is also some young blood bursting onto the scene and appearing on this list, companies like tech-co Freepik or the educational group Medac (recently renamed and rebranded as Davante).

This ranking has been compiled for SUR - using data corresponding to the 2023 financial year - by Iberinform, a business information firm that draws on the commercial register (similar to the companies register in the UK), other public sources and 500,000 company interviews per year.

The olive oil cooperative group Dcoop leads the ranking by a big margin. In addition to its nearly 1.41 billion-euro turnover under the Dcoop name, the second company with the highest turnover in Malaga is one of its subsidiaries, Mercaóleo, grossing almost 537 million euros. The agri-food sector is over-represented in the ranking in relation to its contribution to Malaga's GDP (gross domestic product): there are 20 companies dedicated to food production in the ranking. There is only one sector with more companies listed - commerce and trade - with 35 exponents including wholesale warehouses, specialised distributors, retail chains, car dealerships and service stations. The services sector has 19 companies in the ranking, which are dedicated to activities ranging from healthcare to training, tourism, gambling, events and fitness.

Among the companies that move the most money are eight belonging to all branches of the construction industry. This, of course, includes construction companies, but also property developers and specialised engineering firms. As such, although the real estate sector has recovered from the crisis and is on an upward trend, its presence in the ranking of the largest companies in the province is nothing like it was during the era before the housing bubble burst in 2008.

The manufacturing industry has seven representatives in the ranking, headed by Mayoral. Transport has four, including the companies operating the concessionary licences for Malaga Metro and the toll motorway, Autopista del Sol. Technology, taken in its broadest sense from software to electronics and including telecommunications and e-commerce, has five exponents in the ranking. In addition, there are two public companies, both dedicated to water treatment: Emasa and Acosol.

The ranking of profits is different from that of turnover as the companies that move the most money are not necessarily the most profitable. Curiously, the two companies that achieve the best results share the same profile: they are the companies holding the concessions for key parts of the province's transport infrastructure, namely Malaga Metro with a profit of 43.9 million euros (more than half of its turnover ends up as profit) and Autopista del Sol with 33.6 million euros.

In third place in the profitability ranking is a veteran manufacturer from Malaga, Mayoral. This is followed by the technology company Freepik, and in fifth place is a company with a strong commitment to R&D, Airzone.

Only ten companies out of the 100 included in the ranking recorded a negative result. The largest was that of GIA, Unicaja's real estate asset management company, with a loss of 231 million euros, which can be explained by the specific mission of this special purpose business.