CP All and PTT Chemical make 'Fab 50'

Two Thai firms - CP All and PTT Chemical - have made their way on to Forbes Asia's "Fab 50" list of companies with at least US$3 billion (Bt90 billion) in revenue or market capitalisation, and five-year track records for revenue, earnings, return on capital, recent results, share-price movements and outlook, the publication said yesterday.

The list excludes companies with too much debt or in which the government owns at least 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 (CP), showed annual sales of $4.5 billion and market capitalisation of $7.7 billion. CP All operates about 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 info-tech and other services to retailers, and runs two business schools.

PTT Chemical, which made the list for the first time this year, showed $3.4 billion in sales and $6.9 billion in market capitalisation. 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. Its merger with PTT Aromatics & Refining, expected to be completed next month, will create the fourth-largest company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in terms of market cap.

Almost half of Asia's best 50 publicly traded companies are in mainland China. The country has 23 companies 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. Mainland 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 on to the honour 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 profit among the Fab 50 companies.

China's gain was largely India's loss. After tying China 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 that 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. The reduction is partly a result of the March earthquake.

A notable new entry is Adaro Energy, Indonesia's second-largest thermal-coal producer, which operates the largest single coal mine in Indonesia, and is a significant supplier to the global sea-borne 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 chaebol in South Korea are on the list, while the eighth Korean firm 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 for the past six years.