The war in Iraq, rocketing oil prices, a new man in the most powerful global economic seat (the US Federal Reserve) and the world's leading economy undermined by widening trade and budget deficits: in economic terms, the past year had all the ingredients to make life difficult for the globe's multinationals.

Yet their fortunes are looking up. In fact, they are coasting along nicely, with most of them reporting strong revenues and profits. Of the numerous global listings the most recent available is the world's 2 000 biggest public companies, as ranked by US magazine Forbes. The magazine ranks the companies on a composite score for sales, profits, assets and market value (see adjacent table). In 2005 the global 2 000 improved sales and value of assets by 10% each, profits by a strong 32%, while their stock-market values increased by 17%.

Fortune's top 500 US corporations had a similar good performance in 2005 with combined revenues up 10,2% to a record US$9,1 trillion. Profits, at a combined $610bn, showed an increase of 18,8%. Their average return on equity - the key measure for investors - was a solid 15%, while job numbers between them were up by 2%.

Forbes's rankings, which combine a number of measures of financial performance, are the most illuminating. Of the top 10 companies only one - General Electric - is not in energy or financial services. Of the top 20, only GE, Toyota and Wal-Mart don't fit the bill. This illustrates that despite the gloom, the global economy was resilient enough last year to drive up the prices of key commodities, particularly oil. Seemingly insatiable demand from China, and increasingly India, more than made up for the lacklustre US and only marginally better Eurozone economies. And buoyant financial markets enabled the banks to boost their assets and thus strengthen their balance sheets and income statements.

SA companies - those with a listing on the JSE - are starting to increase their presence among the world's top players. Clearly the strong rand over the past few years has helped, as has the commodities boom, but for the most part our big corporations have, after a decade back from the wilderness, finally cracked the global marketplace. Among the top 500, ranked by Forbes, eight are JSE-listed, of which five (BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Old Mutual, SABMiller and Sasol) have a dual offshore listing. Standard Bank, at 285th, is the top ranked SA-only firm. Twenty-five JSE firms in total are in the Forbes 2 000 list.