San Miguel tops PHL companies in Forbes list

Forbes Asia magazine recently released its inaugural “Best Over a Billion (BOB)” list which highlights the 200 top-performing listed companies across the Asia-Pacific region with revenues of more than $1 billion.

For the Philippines, eight companies in the country were included in the prestigious list – which was topped by SM Investments Corp. — the Philippines’ biggest conglomerate with market-leading positions in retailing, property development and banking with a market capitalization of $22.8 billion.

Running second was San Miguel Food and Beverage with $11.86 billion and Ayala Corp. with $11.17 billion, while JG Summit — led by the Gokongwei family — has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion.

On the other hand, Jollibee — with its goal to become one of the most valuable restaurant operators in the world, has $4.83 billion while Megaworld and GT Capital are valued at $3.76 billion and $3.74 billion, respectively.

Cosco Capital, meantime, was valued at $942 million.

“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,” said Forbes Asia.

The candidates for the BOB list were picked from a universe of 3,200 listed firms across the region and evaluated based on various metrics such as their average five-year sales, operating income growth, return on capital and projected growth over the next one to two years.

According to Forbes Asia editor Justin Doebele, the Best Over A Billion list provides an incredible insight into which are Asia’s best-run big companies and 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.