(FORTUNE Magazine) – The world may be getting smaller as we all travel more, but there's little evidence that the folks flying us are richer for it. The nine airlines on the 500 lost an aggregate $1 billion; the Air France Group alone lost $1.5 billion last year. The story is different for bankers. As the middle class grows in the developing world and corporate business there increases, Citicorp and HSBC Holdings, two of the most global banks, are comfortably ahead of their rivals in profits. Citicorp, which lost $914 million as recently as 1991, made $3.4 billion last year and had the best return on assets in its group. The company with the best performance in the general merchandisers category is not Wal-Mart, but Britain's Marks & Spencer, which achieved a 9% return on revenues vs. 3% for Wal-Mart. Pharmaceutical companies are holding their usual lead in profitability; they posted a rich 16% return on sales.

Safe bet: The newly merged Mitsubishi Bank (no. 5 in its industry) and Bank of Tokyo (no. 22) is sure to rank as next year's No. 1 bank.

Led by Hitachi and Matsushita, Japanese companies claimed six of the top ten spots in the electronics and electrical equipment group.

Wal-Mart outpaced Sears by nearly 2 to 1 in profits but trailed merchandisers Marks & Spencer, May, and J.C. Penney in return on revenues.

The Big Three U.S. carmakers' total profits were more than twice as large as the earnings of the rest of the industry combined.

For the first time, Eastman Kodak, which shed a host of businesses, doesn't lead the photographic equipment group; Xerox does.

[Text Not Available. Ranks 500 of the world's largest corporations by industry for 1994 with revenues, profits, profits as % of; revenues and assets.]