Fortune’s Largest Overseas Companies : Japan Firms Dominate List

Fortune magazine Wednesday released its annual list of the 500 largest industrial corporations outside the United States. Japanese companies took the largest share ever with 150.

Great Britain’s 75 companies took a collective second place in the list, which appears in the Aug. 19 issue appearing on newsstands Aug. 5, Fortune said in a pre-release statement.

Germany was third, with 55, followed by Canada (35), France (34), Sweden (18), Switzerland and Italy (12 each) and Australia and South Korea (10 each).

British and Dutch-owned Royal Dutch-Shell, British Petroleum and ENI of Italy retained their respective positions of last year as the top three corporations. But Toyota Motor was fourth, up one position and pushing Italy’s IRI into fifth.

Japanese companies, with 14 newcomers, accounted for 25% of the list’s total sales, while overall business “regained momentum” in 1984, with sales up 7% and profits up 65%, Fortune said. After three consecutive years of decline, 1983 had seen a 37% rise in profits. Money losers dropped from 90 in 1983 to 60, it added.

Japanese banks scored heavily in Fortune’s directory of the 100 largest commercial banks outside of the United States. Led by Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank of Tokyo, they took the top five slots and 21 of the top 50.