Eleven Bulgarian companies – three fewer than last year – are among the 100 largest companies in Southeast Europe, according to the latest SEE TOP 100 ranking of the regional business news provider SeeNews.com.

The leading company in Bulgaria, LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas AD, ranks seventh in Southeast Europe, with revenues of EUR 4.4 billion in 2023. Other top-ranking companies include Aurubis Bulgaria (eleventh in the ranking), LUKOIL Bulgaria (17th), Astra Bioplant (33rd), National Electricity Company (39th), BA Glass Bulgaria (50th), Bulgargaz (59th), Kozloduy NPP (61st), Kaufland Bulgaria (63rd), Lidl Bulgaria (70th), and Saksa (83rd).

The SEE TOP 100 is an annual ranking of companies by total revenue from the previous year. It covers companies based in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, the Republic of North Macedonia, Slovenia, and Serbia.

Last year’s ranking included 14 Bulgarian companies, the largest being Aurubis Bulgaria, a copper recycler and provider of non-ferrous metals, with revenues of EUR 4.2 billion in 2022).

In 2023, LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas AD, which is now ranked as Bulgaria’s largest company by revenue, was ranked 13th among local companies and 83rd in the region.

Kozloduy NPP was also higher in the ranking last year, placing 20th in Southeast Europe and third in Bulgaria.

For the third year in a row, Romanian gas and oil giant OMV Petrom, part of Austrian group OMV, topped the ranking with EUR 7.7 billion in revenue, down by 42% from 2022.

The top earner in Southeast Europe is another Romanian energy company, Hidroelectrica. The company, which went public in 2023, closed the year with a profit of nearly EUR 1.3 billion.

Following a year of record high sales and profits, the region’s top companies saw their revenues decrease by 11% to EUR 198.4 billion in 2023, the ranking showed. Nearly half of the companies in the SEE TOP 100 reported lower revenues by end-2023. However, their overall profits rose slightly, reaching EUR 10.5 billion compared to EUR 10.3 billion the previous year.

As energy commodity prices stabilized in global markets, revenues of the region’s largest gas and oil companies went down by 20%. Despite that, these companies continue to dominate the ranking.