The Edge Billion Ringgit Club’s annual gala dinner held on Dec 11 saw 40 companies picking up 55 awards for being the best performers on Bursa Malaysia based on their financial performances from FY2014 to FY2017.
This year, based on the March 31 cut-off date, there were 170 companies listed on Bursa with a market capitalisation of RM1 billion or more. Although there were 184 listed companies last year, the total market cap of this year’s 170 came in higher at RM1.69 trillion versus RM1.59 trillion, and constituted 90.8% of Bursa’s total market cap as at March 31.
The combined revenue of the 2018 BRC members was RM806.7 billion in FY2017, up from RM747.1 billion in FY2016 while their collective pre-tax profit was RM123.19 billion, up from RM108.6 billion.
Although the number of billion-ringgit companies on Bursa fell to 170 this year, their performance in terms of profitability and market capitalisation was better as a whole than the 184 that made it to the list in 2017.
This means that BRC members are truly the strongest of Corporate Malaysia.
Of the eight chosen as Company of the Year since our inaugural awards in 2010, seven have since outperformed the FBM KLCI in terms of total returns to shareholders.
We present our sectoral awards based on three financial performance measures:
- Weighted return on equity (ROE) over three years;
- Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in after-tax profit over three years; and
- Returns to shareholders over three years — a combination of dividend payout and share price performance.
For Company of the Year, we used a matrix of financial performance in the three categories and corporate responsibility initiatives on a weighted basis.
Weight to total score:
- 3-year ROE 20%
- 3-year returns to shareholders 20%
- 3-year PAT growth 30%
- Corporate responsibility 30%
This year’s Company of the Year was Petronas Dagangan Bhd, which operates 1,000 petrol stations with over 700 Kedai Mesra in the country, which have become one-stop centres for motorists for fuelling, shopping and banking.
The company also achieved strong recurring pre-tax profits averaging RM1.2 billion a year between 2015 and 2017 while its market capitalisation more than doubled from RM11.6 billion in 2010 to RM25 billion in 2017. Petronas Dagangan has also been generous to shareholders with dividend payouts of 60 sen per share in 2015, 70 sen in 2016 and a hefty 97 sen or almost RM1.0 billion in 2017.
This year’s Value Creator: Malaysia’s Outstanding CEO award went to Dialog Group Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Ngau Boon Keat. As a young Malaysian engineer in Singapore, Ngau decided to balik kampung in 1975 to join the then newly set up national oil company Petronas.
He was part of the team that came up with the production-sharing contract that Petronas uses till today. In 1984, Ngau started Saga Holdings with three partners and in 1996, listed it on Bursa as Dialog Group Bhd. Today, the company is one of the biggest integrated oil and gas service providers in the region. It is a pioneer investor in Pengerang, Johor, where it owns and operates petrochemical, oil and LNG storage terminals and a deep-sea port. Dialog’s market capitalisation stands at around RM18 billion today, up fivefold from RM3.6 billion in 2010.
The success of BRC as benchmark awards for Corporate Malaysia would not be possible without the support of our partners.
I would like to thank OCBC Bank, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Mercedes-Benz for partnering The Edge in this prestigious event to honour and celebrate the best of Corporate Malaysia.
This has been an unprecedented year for Malaysia. The historic change in government has had some immediate consequences for businesses, better for some and not so good for others. A clear economic strategy to take the country forward is still in the making.
This uncertainty, together with the volatile global environment, presents many challenges to Corporate Malaysia. But as the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, as BRC members have consistently proved.
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2018 BRC awards.
Datuk Ho Kay Tat
Publisher & Group CEO
The Edge Media Group