Food, Beverages & Tobacco companies have had the biggest profit increases in the past year.
New research by Tipalti, has looked at the annual profit figures of 500 of the world’s best-known companies to see how well different sectors performed in 2021 compared to 2020 and revealed the 10 industries and companies with the biggest increase in profits.
The biggest increase in profits by sector
| Rank | Industry | 2020 Average Profit | 2021 Average Profit | Change in Average Profit |
| 1 | Household Products | $946,909,091 | $1,949,709,091 | $1,002,800,000 |
| 2 | Food, Beverages & Tobacco | $1,424,440,000 | $1,778,666,667 | $354,226,667 |
| 3 | Retailing | $1,402,479,167 | $1,583,174,468 | $180,695,301 |
| 4 | Industrials | $1,500,333,333 | $1,663,505,263 | $163,171,930 |
| 5 | Engineering & Construction | $564,500,000 | $668,742,857 | $104,242,857 |
| 6 | Technology | $5,746,272,727 | $5,849,457,447 | $103,184,720 |
| 7 | Business Services | $2,046,388,889 | $2,030,550,000 | -$15,838,889 |
| 8 | Chemicals | $871,384,615 | $804,042,857 | -$67,341,758 |
| 9 | Materials | $317,052,632 | $218,510,526 | -$98,542,106 |
| 10 | Wholesalers | $278,190,476 | $133,372,727 | -$144,817,749 |
The companies with the biggest increase in profits
| Rank | Company | Sector | 2020 Profit | 2021 Profit | Profit Change |
| 1 | General Electric | Industrials | -$4,979,000,000 | $5,704,000,000 | $10,683,000,000 |
| 2 | Meta Platforms | Technology | $18,485,000,000 | $29,146,000,000 | $10,661,000,000 |
| 3 | Amazon | Retailing | $11,588,000,000 | $21,331,000,000 | $9,743,000,000 |
| 4 | Procter & Gamble | Household Products | $3,897,000,000 | $13,027,000,000 | $9,130,000,000 |
| 5 | PG&E | Energy | -$7,656,000,000 | -$1,318,000,000 | $6,338,000,000 |
| 6 | Alphabet | Technology | $34,343,000,000 | $40,269,000,000 | $5,926,000,000 |
| 7 | Altria Group | Food, Beverages & Tobacco | -$1,293,000,000 | $4,467,000,000 | $5,760,000,000 |
| 8 | Frontier Communications | Telecommunications | -$5,911,000,000 | -$402,000,000 | $5,509,000,000 |
| 9 | Microsoft | Technology | $39,240,000,000 | $44,281,000,000 | $5,041,000,000 |
| 10 | Salesforce | Technology | $126,000,000 | $4,072,000,000 | $3,946,000,000 |
- The biggest increase in profits was seen in the Household Products sector, which more than doubled its year-on-year profits with an increase of $1,002,800,000.
- This huge profit boom far outperforms any other sector, as companies within the Food, Beverages and Tobacco grouping took second place having increased their average profits by $354,226,667.
- Business Services, Chemicals, Materials and Wholesalers industries have seen a considerable decrease in their profits over the last year.
The research also revealed:
- Apple is one of the world’s most profitable businesses, generating over $157 million a day, which equates to $1,820 every single second and $6,553,767 every hour.
- Uber Technologies made a huge loss of $6.8 billion in 2021, equating to $215 every second. Despite being the world’s largest ride-hailing app, Uber has famously never turned a profit.
- General electric saw the biggest profit increase over the past year, increasing their profits by over $10.6 million from 2020.
- The transportation industry made a huge average loss of over $1.1 billion.
You can view all the companies and industries featured in the research and their profit breakdown in the full report here.
