By James A. Loyola
A total of eight, mostly family-controlled Filipino corporations made it to Forbes Asia’s inaugural Best Over A Billion list, which spotlights 200 top-performing listed companies across the Asia-Pacific region with revenues of US$1 billion or more.
The Philippine firms in the list is led by SM Investments Corporation with sales of $7.99 billion, San Miguel Food and Beverage ($5.44 billion), JG Summit Holdings ($5.33 billion), Ayala Corporation ($3.79 billion), GT Capital Holdings ($3.79 billion), Cosco Capital ($3.2 billion), Jollibee Foods Corporation ($3.06 billion), and Megaworld Corporation ($1.02 billion).
Forbes Asia said the new list complements the long-established Best Under A Billion list of the 200 best-performing, small and mid-sized companies in the Asia-Pacific region with less than $1 billion in revenue.
Together, the two lists now comprehensively cover all of Asia-Pacific’s listed companies, selecting the best 400 from the smallest to the biggest, using $1 billion in sales as a dividing line.
From a universe of 3,200 listed companies in the Asia-Pacific region, candidates for the Best Over A Billion list are evaluated based on more than a dozen metrics including their average five-year sales, operating income growth, return on capital, and projected growth over the next one to two years.
Those having the highest composite score earned a place in the final list of 200.
The goal is to find the region’s best-run companies that are doing well on not just one metric but across many of them. The result is a list that represents the best of Asia-Pacific’s big companies.
The list also highlights the connection between the companies and members of Forbes Asia’s rich lists.
“The Best Over A Billion list provides an incredible insight into which are Asia’s best-run big companies. Nearly two thirds of the companies on this list are controlled by or connected to families or individuals who have appeared on Forbes Asia’s rich lists,” said Forbes Asia Editor Justin Doebele.
One example cited is San Miguel Food and Beverage which counts Philippine billionaires Ramon Ang and Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. among its biggest shareholders and are CEO and Chairman, respectively.
The company’s shares have surged over 20 percent this year, outperforming the local stock market benchmark.
The biggest companies on the list by market value hail from the technology sector and the region’s largest markets.
Industries that dominate the list include retail, real estate, banking, transportation as well as food and beverage manufacturing.
The full list is available at www.forbes.com/bob and in the September issue of Forbes Asia.