Russian brands among world’s most valuable

Authoritative UK consulting company Brand Finance has revealed its annual survey of the world’s top 500 brands. Apart from Gazprom and Rosneft, the seven enlisted Russian companies include Sberbank, telecommunication giants Beeline and MTS, as well as the country’s major online retailer Magnet.

Running the show in 2011 are mostly high-tech companies, with Internet giant Google and software maker Microsoft topping the Brand Finance Global 500 updated list. The world’s most valuable brand is worth an estimated 44.3 billion dollars, whereas the value of the second place trademark is $43 billion. Ranking among others for the first time is Apple, which has been closely associated with computer innovations over the last few years. Russia’s most valuable brand – Sberbank – has been placed 65th on the list, assessed at $12 billion, which is comparable to international companies such as Panasonic and Volkswagen. Other Russian brands rank somewhere in the middle, which is a very positive result anyway, director of Finam Management Sergei Khestanov said.

The appearance of large Russian companies – Sberbank, LUKoil and Gazprom – among the world’s top 500 brands indicates that part of Russia’s business community carries weight in the global market as well. Seven brands out of 500 are not that much, of course, but on the other hand, the Russian companies that made the list play an undoubtedly substantial role on a global scale, Sergei Khestanov emphasized.

Such global brand awareness, experts say, shows the Russian economy diversification. Banking, investment, telecommunication and trade companies are obviously boosting their role worldwide, despite raw materials suppliers’ still keeping the lead. Their inclusion in the rankings is both an acknowledgement of success and a chance to attract new partners, Sergei Khestanov goes on to say.

The presence of raw material producing companies in prestigious world rankings is more than typical, whereas the non-resource industry can hardly boast about such results. And this testifies to the active development of not only our economy’s export sector. Russian companies being included on the world’s top 500 brands list has simplified the process of attracting investments – and that is the main positive outcome. The better investors know about a company, the more ready they are to invest, Sergei Khestanov said.

Rating and consulting agencies drawing up such surveys always require accurate information of an enterprise’s activity and financial successes. Russian businesses being featured in the Brand Finance Global 500 should therefore enhance the trust of investors and draw their attention to other Russian companies.

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