Finance is the most dominant sector by revenue, new Fortune 500 Europe list shows

Good morning.

Volkswagen has topped the Fortune 500 Europe for a third straight year, even as the auto industry it leads gets squeezed by tariffs and Chinese competition.

The automaker’s revenue still climbed 3.4%, to more than $363 billion, in the fourth edition of Fortune’s ranking of Europe’s largest companies by revenue.

The combined revenues of the companies on the list hit a record high of $15.5 trillion this year.

Profits rose 3% to just over $1 trillion, rebounding from a 5% decline in 2025.

Across the Fortune 500 Europe, margins have narrowed for two years running, falling to 6.5% from a high of 7.1% on the 2024 list—despite record revenue and profit growth.

That’s consistent with stagflation pressures weighing on Europe’s corporate sector, Guido Cozzi, a macroeconomics professor at the University of St.

Gallen, told Fortune’s Sam Birchall.

Three sectors generate over half of all revenue on the list: financials (24%), energy (20%), and motor vehicles and parts (10%).

Finance remains Europe’s most dominant sector by revenue, profit, and headcount.

A total of 105 finance companies earned a spot in the rankings, together generating 24% of the list’s total revenue, with Banco Santander ( No.

9 ) and BNP Paribas ( No.

10 ) in the top 10.

Financial companies also account for 40% of the list’s profit and employ 14% of its workforce.