Welcome to this year’s Top 100 edition. Each year, when we sit-down with IBISWorld to review the list, there is a sense of anticipation about what it will reveal. New entrants, big jumps and the inevitable tumbles, the list has it all.
To be honest, this year has felt like an endless walk in soft sand under a blazing sun. I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, there have been many great triumphs and high fives this year, but what we are hearing – and reporting on – carries a different vibe.
Rising input costs, supply chain pressures, and workforce shortages have all made running a manufacturing business more complex and costly. Energy, labour, transport, packaging, and raw material prices are the support act. Absolute priorities are reducing regulatory burden, strengthening supply chain and transport infrastructure, and ensuring a reliable, affordable energy supply.
It is a sector clearly in transition after five years of uncertainty – this year’s report is evidence of that. Global and local companies are consolidating, divesting, automating and investing to build resilience with common goals – viability and competitiveness.
Almost two-thirds of companies on the list that were on last year’s list fell from their 2024 position. Last year there were only 33, while 37 companies moved up the ladder. This year, only 14 companies lifted their position – and the majority of those was only by one place.
So we are clearly in flux; someone told me the other day it was called ‘active reinvention’, which almost made me lose the will to nod politely, but companies are divesting non-core assets, consolidating operations, investing in automation and capacity, and targeting global growth opportunities.
Change can be hard and can take time, but what we see through the Top 100 is a sector that keeps stepping up and pushing forward. It is not for the faint hearted, but the opportunities and possibilities are still there.
