According to data from Statistics South Africa, large companies achieved the highest net profit margins since 2010, at an average of just over 6%. The financial intermediation and real estate industry has had the highest margins (at over 17 percent for large firms, and just under 16 percent for small firms), while they have not varied meaningfully across firm size in the manufacturing, trade and transport industries. Returns have been highest for small firms, reflecting some years of unusually high returns after the global financial crisis (particularly in forestry and fishing). Small firms have had average return on equity of over 33 percent (i.e firms generated over R33 net profits for every R100 invested by shareholders) and return on asset of 6.5 percent. For large firms, return on equity averaged over 13 percent and return on assets almost 5 percent. Community, social and personal services (which includes health care and entertainment) showed the highest return on equity and assets across all firm sizes.
