The company is a specialist merchant bank and, as such, would not otherwise qualify. As regards large position moves within the ranking, the most spectacular was McCarthy Retail. Not far behind, and reflecting the benefits of the reconstruction of the Perskor group, Caxton moved from a R44,5m loss to a R329,3m profit. In the process, it jumped 251 places from 288th last year to 37th spot, higher than it has ever been before. The only other company to move from almost complete oblivion to the top half of the present ranking was Corpcapital, born in 1998 out of the shell of TPN Investments.
Companies can, of course show equally spectacular moves in the other direction.
Iscor, which fell from 11th place last year to 298th has already been mentioned in the context of the Billion-Rand profit league. Also from the Steel sector, Highveld's R487m swing from a R291m profit to a R196m loss paled into insignificance against Iscor's R1,2bn turnaround, but nevertheless knocked 260 places off its ranking. At 302nd spot, this company was second-last out of 303 in the profit stakes, a far cry from 42nd place last year. Indications provided by more recent company results are that the factors that slowed profits last year have worked their way out of the system, which points to a more positive growth picture for the year ahead.