MANILA – Three Philippine companies made it to the “Best Under A Billion” list for 2010 by Forbes Asia, according to an article in the magazine’s September issue.
It listed Lopez Holdings (broadcasting, cable and satellite, and entertainment programming); Pacific Online Systems (develops and manages computer systems for gaming industry); and Philweb (online gambling services to the public) as among the top-performing 200 firms from close to 13,000 publicly listed Asia-Pacific companies with actively traded shares and sales between $5 million and 1 billion.
Lopez Holdings registered $538 million in sales, with a $257 million net income, and $529 million market value; Pacific Online Systems has $21 million in sales; with a $6 million net income, and $432 million market value; Philweb has $18 million in sales, $12 million net income; and $432 million market value, according to Forbes Asia.
A total of 151 firms are new on the list, including the three from the Philippines, compared to 136 last year while 49 others are returnees, it said.
Firms in information technology, healthcare and electronics sectors accounted for close to half of the 200 companies on the list, according to the article.
Selection of the final 200 was based on earnings growth, sales growth, and shareholders’ return on equity in the past 12 months and over three years, Forbes Asia said.
China and Hong Kong had the most number of companies in the “Best Under A Billion” list with 71 but down from 78 in 2009, followed by India with 39, up from 20 last year, it said.
This is the third consecutive year that both economies have dominated the list, it said.
India is in second place with 39 entries, 19 more than last year, thus making it the biggest gainer. More Indian companies made the list this year as the country is less open than many other Asian economies and was therefore less affected by the global downturn, it said.
The others are from South Korea, 20 down from 23 in 2009; Taiwan, 19 down from 16; Australia, 13 down from 18; Malaysia, 9 up from 8; Thailand, 9 up from 5; Singapore, 8 up from 5; Philippines, 3 up from 0; Japan, 2 down from 24; Pakistan, 2 up from 0; Sri Lanka, 2 up from 1; Indonesia, 1, New Zealand, 1, and Vietnam, 1 up from 0.
Among the new companies this year is Vinamilk from Vietnam, the first time that a firm from the Southeast Asian state has made the list. The company holds a one-third share of Vietnam’s dairy products market. It recently started work on a $120 million dairy plant, near
Ho Chi Minh City that is expected to be the biggest in Southeast Asia, the magazine said.
Also new faces from the Southeast Asian region are glove maker Hartalega Holdings from Malaysia and MCS Steel from Thailand.
Asia’s economic giants China and India contributed their share of new entries as well, it said.
They include Chinese real estate brokerage firm E-house and Indian animated movie maker Compact Disc India, it said.
Among the returning firms this year is Indian software company Micro Technologies, it said. Also listed last year, its revenues soared 79% to $102 million compared with last year, while its net income went up from $14 million to $20 million.
Chinese internet search engine Baidu also returned to the list from last year with its revenue up from $462 million in 2009 to $651 million this year, while net earnings also increased from $151 million to $217 million, it said.
Another notable returnee is Thailand’s Dynasty Ceramic. During the political protests in May that brought central Bangkok to a standstill, sales of tiles at the company’s 170 outlets increased 15% from the year before. Also, the firm’s stock price is up 90% over the past 12 months. Its CEO Roongroj Saengsastra is featured in a profile story in the latest issue of Forbes Asia, according to Forbes Asia.
The 200 winning companies will be honored at the Forbes Asia “Best Under A Billion” award ceremony and dinner in Hong Kong on November 23.
The event’s host sponsor is Invest Hong Kong and presenting sponsor is SAP.
For more information, visit www.forbes.com/BUB
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