Page 40 - Forbes - Asia (September 2018)

FORBES ASIA
he
Asia-
Pacific
region often feels
Tdominated by China.
That’s certainly true when it comes to our an-
nual list of the best big listed companies from
Japan to Australia to India. Once again China
grabs the most spots—a record 30 of the 50
companies hail from the mainland, up from
28 last year.
And once again, the corporate stars that shine
the brightest are Tencent (see story, p. 45) and
Alibaba. he two Chinese internet giants boast
vastly greater market capitalizations and enjoy
far higher proits than any of
the other companies on the list.
BY JOHN KOPPISCH
Tencent’s net proit soared 71% last
AND ANDREA MURPHY
year, to $10.6 billion, while Ali-
baba’s climbed 49%, to $9.7 billion.
China’s hold on the list is squeezing out other
countries. Only 7 placed companies on the list;
12 did in 2016. Taiwan has none for the irst time
since the Fab 50 started in 2005. But of the 17
38 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018
FORBES ASIA’S
LIST OF THE BEST
PUBLICLY TRADED
BIG COMPANIES.
companies joining the list for
the irst time, 9 come from outside
China (see pp. 47–49).
Once again India puts the second-largest
number of companies on the list—seven, down one
from last year. Five Japanese outits crack the lineup, the most since 2007.
hree of them are newcomers, starting up only since 1997. Vietnam never had
a company make the Fab 50 before 2016, but now it’s had three, including a
newbie this year.
Capitalist churn means some companies can’t keep up. his year four regulars
failed to make the cut: India’s HDFC Bank ater a record 11 appearances, South
Korea’s Naver ater 8, and China’s Baidu and Great Wall Motor ater 6 apiece.
To arrive at the Fab 50, we start with a pool of 1,744 publicly traded
companies that have at least $2 billion in annual revenue and have been listed
for at least a year. We then knock out companies that are losing money or
whose revenue is less than it was ive years ago. Next we toss
out companies carrying long-term debt that’s equal to more
than half their total capital, or that have more than 50% state
ownership. he goal is to highlight well-run entrepreneurial
outits. Companies that are more than 50%-owned by listed
parents are also culled. Finally we run the remaining contenders through a
battery of more than a dozen inancial measures. he goal is an honor roll of
high-performing blue chips, the region’s best of the best. F
Reporting by Grace Chung, Rebecca Feng and Anuradha Raghunathan