Merco, the business monitor of corporate reputation, has presented the results and conclusions of the 26th edition of its annual ranking of companies and leaders with the best reputation in Spain. The list is made up of the 200 organizations and the 100 managers and directors who have a better perception among consumers, experts, communication professionals and analysts, among other areas.

On this occasion, the analysis has taken into consideration 64,764 surveys, 7 evaluations and 29 sources of information, an exhaustive process that has been carried out by the firm Corporate Reputation Business Monitor and reviewed by KPMG. At the end of the news you can find a breakdown of the study methodology.

The companies with the best reputation in Spain 2026

For the second consecutive year, the general ranking is made up of the 200 companies with the best reputation in Spain. As explained by Merco, the scores obtained are transferred to a scale between 1,000 points (for the company that occupies position 200) and 10,000 points (for the company with the best score).

As can be seen, there are hardly any changes in the first five positions on the list which, in order, continue to be occupied by Inditex (10,000 points), Mercadona (9,003 points), Grupo Social Once (8,172 points), Repsol (7,713 points), Iberdrola (7,705 points). Except for the one that occupies the first position, the rest lose points compared to the previous edition of the study.

The rest of the top 10 does present changes. The most marked variation corresponds to Coca-Cola, which falls from sixth position to tenth, while Caixabank rises from eighth place to sixth; and Mapfre rises from tenth place to eighth. For its part, BBVA maintains seventh place and Banco Santander ninth. In all these movements, companies lose points.

Regarding the list as a whole, from Merco the entries of Desigual, Lence, Ebro Foods, Fluidra, Merck Group, Ecoener, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Coren, EDP and Agrolimen stand out; and in the Top 100 the incorporation of Barceló Hotel Group, Grifols, ISDIN, Volkswagen Group, Nike, Ahorramás and Antolín.

In addition, the report includes sectoral rankings and three other lists that assess aspects such as consumer ratings, online reputation or communication:

• Best companies for the general population:
  • Decathlon
  • Samsung
  • The English Court
  • Ikea
  • Apple
• Companies with the best reputation in the digital field:
  • Lidl
  • Social Group Eleven
  • amazon
  • Inditex
  • Samsung
• Best communication equipment:
  • Santander
  • Caixabank
  • Repsol
  • Inditex
  • Iberdrola

The business leaders with the best reputation in Spain

The Merco leaders ranking is made up of 100 managers and directors. As explained by Merco, the scores obtained are transferred to a scale that goes from 3,000 points (for the leader who occupies position 100) to 10,000 (for the leader with the best score).

As with the list of companies, in this table there are no changes in the first five positions, which in order again correspond to Juan Roig (Mercadona), Ana Botín (Banco Santander), Amancio Ortega (Inditex), Marta Ortega (Inditex) and Ignacio Sánchez Galán (Iberdrola).

Unlike the previous edition, Florentino Pérez leaves the top 10 and gives up his sixth position to Josu Jon Imaz (Repsol). He is followed by Pablo Isla (Nestlé), Isidre Fainé (La Caixa Foundation), Gonzalo Cortázar (Caixabank) and Antonio Huertas (Mapfre).

Merco highlights the entry into the top 100 leaders of Alejandro Oñoro (Grupo Social Once), Gloria Ortiz (Bankinter), Juvencio Maeztu (Ikea), Carl Aaby (Ikea), Cristina Álvarez (El Corte Inglés), Carlos Jaureguizar (Sanitas), Ricardo Álvarez (Dia) and José Vicente De Los Mozos (Former Indra).

Merco 2026 Methodology

To prepare the ranking of companies, Merco has relied on the evaluation of managers (with a weight of 25% in the ranking), experts (34%), benchmarking and evaluation of objective indicators (15%), the results of other monitors -Merco Digital, Merco Sociedad, Merco Talento- (26%).

Thus, the Merco Empresas ranking has had the participation of 1,634 managers of large companies and 719 experts, made up of 84 financial analysts, 71 economic information journalists, 87 professors in the business area, 117 heads of NGOs and social entities, 72 heads of unions, 77 consumer associations, 110 government members, and 101 social media managers.

Regarding the other monitors, the perceptions of 9,311 citizens (Merco Sociedad), 53,020 workers (Merco Talento) and more than one million online mentions evaluated (Merco Digital and IA) have been collected.

For its part, to prepare the ranking of business leaders, Merco has relied on the evaluation of managers of large companies (with a weight of 42% in the ranking), leadership assessment (28%), strategy and management assessment (18%), the results of Merco Digital (6%) and objective management indicators (6%).

Merco Líderes has considered the assessment of 1,634 managers of large companies, 90 communication experts, 85 economic information and communication journalists, 84 financial analysts and 87 business professors. In turn, 378,350 mentions on social networks have been analyzed in collaboration with Nethodology and benchmarking of objective indicators.

More info.: Merco Empresas and Merco Leaders 2026