Most Valuable Companies In The UK 2024: Market Cap, Revenue & Growth

Most Valuable UK eCommerce Companies 2024: Key Insights

• Next plc's Growth: Despite challenges during the pandemic, Next plc maintains its position as the leading eCommerce company in the UK, with revenue climbing from US$4.5 billion in 2020 to US$6.7 billion in 2022.

• Auto Trader Group plc's Ending Trend: Auto Trader Group plc experienced revenue growth from US$1.7 billion in 2019 to US$2.5 billion in 2021, before a slight decline to US$2.1 billion in 2022.

• THG plc's International Focus: With its diversified product range and international presence, THG plc's revenue grew clearly, doubling from US$1.5 billion in 2019 to US$3 billion in 2021, but ended 2022 with stagnation.

After already displaying the most valuable global,  U.S. and European eCommerce companies, we are now going to answer the question of who the leading companies in the UK eCommerce market are. Take a look at who is leading the way in the UK market and see key figures such as revenue, country and category distribution for the top 5 players ranked by market capitalization.

Top 5 Most Valuable UK eCommerce Companies

As of January 2024, the leading eCommerce company in the UK is Next plc with a market cap of US$13.8 billion, setting the bar high for other companies. Auto Trader Group plc takes the second spot, with a market cap of US$8.2 billion. Third place is held by Ocado Group Plc with a market cap of US$6.4 billion.

These three companies not only have a significant financial advantage over their competitors in the following places, but are also among the most valuable eCommerce companies in Europe.

Fourth and fifth on our list are THG plc and Moonpig Group plc. They have a market cap of US$1.2 billion and US$0.7 billion respectively.

As it is not just the total value of a company that matters, total revenue is also an important measure of a company's financial health.

Most Valuable eCommerce Companies in the UK: Next plc leads in Revenue

The top 5 list of the eCommerce market is changing as we take a closer look at the revenue numbers. What does not change is Next plc's lead in our rankings. With revenues of US$6.7 billion in 2022, they once again take the top spot with revenues higher than the second and third places combined.

In this position, we see tight competition between Ocado Group plc and THG plc, which have almost the same revenue at US$3 billion and US$2.999 billion, respectively. They are followed by Auto Trader Group plc with US$2.1 billion and Moonpig Group plc with US$408 million.

Now that we have taken a closer look at the financials of the top eCommerce companies in the UK, let's check out each of these companies and see how their revenues have changed over the past few years.

1. Next plc

Founded in Leeds in 1864, Next plc has an illustrious history and is now the UK's leading eCommerce company. With 78.5% of its revenue coming from its home market of the UK, Next is focused on its local market with smaller shares in other countries, the next largest being Israel (6.2%), Ireland (2.9%) and Australia (2.5%).

Looking at the past few years, Next had to take a bit of a hit during the pandemic years. After ending 2019 with US$5.4 billion in revenue, the numbers dropped by almost a billion to US$4.5 billion. The comeback was even stronger, as Next was able to reach $6.4 billion and $6.7 billion in revenue in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

2. Auto Trader Group plc

Auto Trader is an eCommerce company with online marketplace for used cars. Founded in 1975, the company has a clear focus on cars, whether it is buying, selling, leasing new or used cars, valuing cars or getting car reviews.

After improving its revenue from US$1.7 billion to US$2.5 billion between 2019 and 2021, the numbers dropped to US$2.1 billion the following year in 2022. However, the rapid growth in the previous years should give the Manchester-based marketplace confidence, as it improved its revenue by 47% in just two years.

3. Ocado Group plc

Based in Hatfield, Ocado Group plc specializes in grocery technology. It also has a 50% stake in the online store ocado.com, which generates most of its revenue from the sale of groceries (53%), personal care (21%) and fashion (10%). Ocado focuses only on its home market, as 100% of its revenue comes from the UK.

In terms of revenue, Ocado could outperform the number two on our list, Auto Trader. With revenue of US$2.3 billion in 2019, Ocado finished the following year with an improvement to US$3.1 billion. After a slight improvement to US$3.3 billion in 2021, the latest revenue figures from 2022 show a decline to US$3 billion.

4. THG plc

THG plc, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2024, is most focused on sales of personal care products, with 67% of sales coming from this category. Hobby & Leisure (16.2%) and Fashion Products (12.9%) are also important sources of revenue for THG. While 32.7% of sales come from the UK, THG is well known around the world with an 18.8% share in the U.S., 5.3% in France and 5.1% in Germany.

Looking at the revenue numbers, THG doubled its revenue from 2019 to 2022. Starting with a revenue of US$1.5 billion in 2019, it reached a revenue of US$2.1 billion and US$3 billion in 2020 and 2021. The following year, 2022, shows a stagnation at US$3 billion revenue.

5. Moonpig Group plc

Founded in 2000, Moonpig Group plc's online store focuses on greeting cards, flowers and other gifts with many options for personalization. The Hobby & Leisure category accounts for 94.1% of the company's sales, with 4.1% coming from Food. Most of Moonpig's revenue also comes from its home country with 72%, with 18.5% coming from the Netherlands and smaller shares from the rest of the world such as the U.S. (2.8%) or Australia (2.4%).

In terms of revenue, the last few years have been up and down for Moonpig Group plc. After finishing 2019 with US$221 million in revenue, the company was able to double those numbers to US$470 million the following year. After a dip to US$388 million in 2021, the numbers improved again to US$408 million in 2022.

Most Valuable UK eCommerce Companies 2024: Closing Remarks

Next plc's consistent growth and resilience position it as a key player in the UK market, topping the tables in market cap and revenues. With increasing sales in recent years, it is expected that Next plc will retain its leading position in the UK eCommerce market in the coming years.

Besides Next plc, all other companies from our list experienced a decline or stagnation in revenues in 2022, which could be an effect after the UK left the European Union, and therefore the declining exports to the EU had an impact on the UK eCommerce market. Some of the changes include a value added tax (VAT) for EU customers of around 20% as well as an import fee of around €20. In a tight eCommerce market, those additional costs look very unattractive for EU shoppers.

Another reason for the dropping revenue numbers lately could be the end of the pandemic in 2022, where people tended to shop more in stores again, and therefore the eCommerce numbers slowed down slightly.

Market Capitalization Explained

Market capitalization, often abbreviated as market cap, is the total value of all a company's shares. It is calculated by multiplying the share price by the total number of shares outstanding. Market capitalization is important because it allows investors to compare the relative size of one company to another.