KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has managed to maintain the number of companies listed in the annual “Best Under A Billion” list by Forbes Asia at five — the same as last year — with MyEG Services Bhd making the cut for the third consecutive year.Besides MyEG, the four others who made it to the list this year are: Elsoft Research, Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd and VitRox Corp Bhd. The new additions booted out last year’s Karex Bhd, Mitrajaya Holdings Bhd, Signature International Bhd and Inari Amertron Bhd.
The “Best Under A Billion” list highlights 200 leading stock-traded companies in the Asia-Pacific region, with annual revenue between US$5 million (RM21.4 million) and US$1 billion.
Forbes Asia said from a universe of 18,000 candidates, roughly 875 passed its criteria for profitability, growth and modest indebtedness.
“We excluded companies thinly traded, those trading less than a year and those with worrisome accounting, management, ownership or legal troubles. The resulting 200 produced the highest sales and earnings per share growth for both the most recent fiscal one and three-year periods, and the strongest five-year average return on equity,” the statement added.
China featured the highest number of 70 companies this year (but down from 98 last year), followed by Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Japan, however, nearly tripled its presence with 38 companies from 13 last year, while South Korea had 20 companies, from 16 last year.
Overall, consumer products and services companies have been on the rise on the list, reflecting a shift towards a consumer economy, Forbes Asia said.
Tim Ferguson, editor of Forbes Asia, said: “The better showing by Japan and South Korea is heartening, but the continued scarce presence of companies from most economies of Southeast Asia should give pause to everyone there — capital markets, entrepreneurs and those who count on future job creation.”
Among Asean countries, Vietnam has nine companies on this year’s list, while Thailand has four. Singapore has six. But there are no representations from the Philippines and Indonesia this year.
Sourced from : TheEdgeMarkets.com