Two Thai companies in Forbes Asia's Fab 50 list

 

 

 

 

            It excludes companies with too much debt or where the government owns half the shares. The 50 companies were picked from a list of 1,073.

            CP All, a 49-per cent-owned subsidiary of Charoen Pokphand Group, showed the annual sales of $4.5 billion and market capitalisation of$7.7 billion. CP all operates some 6,100 7-Eleven convenience stores in Thailand and plans to expand to 7,000 by the end of 2013. It also makes frozen food and bakery products, provides infotech and other

ser vices to retailers, and runs 2 business schools.

            PTT Chemical, which was first enlisted this year, showed $3.4 billion and $6.9 billion in sales and market capitalisation, respectively. It wins a spot after a 34 per cent jump in market cap last year. Earnings climbed 68 per cent, to $342 million,

after declining in 2008 and 2009. Merger with PTT Aromatics & Refining, expected to

be completed next month, will create fourth-largest company on the Thai bourse in terms of market cap.

            Almost half of Asia's best 50 publicly-traded companies are from China. The country has 23 companies that are on this super performers list, up from 16 last year.

            The trend of Chinese corporate dominance underscores the view that the story of Asia is increasingly the story of China, according to the magazine. No country has ever

boasted close to that number, including China, since Forbes Asia started spotlighting the

region's biggest and most profitable 50 companies in 2005. China only had five companies in the 2005 list and two in 2006.

 

With China's real estate, construction, auto-making, appliance manufacturing and

gold-mining industries continuing to boom, additional companies from these sectors have

made their way into the honor roll. Among them are newcomers: Qingdao Haier, the world's No. 1 white goods brand; Zhongsheng Group Holdings, a chain of car dealerships; and China Merchants Bank, which boasts the highest annual net profits of the Fab 50 companies.

 

China's gain was largely India's loss. After tying the mainland for the most companies

last year, India mustered only seven entries this year. This makes it third in the country

ranking after South Korea, which boasts eight companies, the most for the country since

2005. For the first time, no Japanese company made it to the list, in contrast to six years ago when the country led the pack with 13 companies, partly as a result of the March earthquake.

 

A notable new entry is Adaro Energy, Indonesia's second largest thermal coal producer, operates the largest single coal mine in Indonesia, and is a significant supplier to

the global seaborne thermal coal market. The company has sales of $2.7 billion and a

market value of $7.6 billion.

Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines and Malaysia have one company

each - Asia Pacific Breweries, Noble Group, HTC, JG Summit Holdings and Axiata Group

respectively. Seven chaebols from South Korea are on the list while the eighth is hot internet company, NHN, which operates the country's biggest search engine, Naver. Asian Paints, India's largest paint company makes the Fab 50 for the first time.

Hong Kong's Noble Group is the company on this year's list with the longest streak,

having made the list in the last six years.

 

 

No. of companies this year and last year

China /23/ 16

South Korea /8/ 3

India /7 /16

Australia/ 3/ 2

Indonesia /2 /1

Thailand/ 2/ 1

Hong Kong /1/ 4

Malaysia/ 1/ 0

Philippines/ 1/ 0

Singapore/ 1/ 1

Taiwan/ 1/ 4

Japan/ 0/2