Five Malaysian firms on Forbes ‘Best Under a Billion’ list

PETALING JAYA: Five Malaysian companies are among the top-200 publicly-traded companies in the Asia-Pacific region which are on Forbes 2017 “Best Under a Billion” list.

The five are Elsoft Research Bhd, Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd, My E.G. Services Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd and Vitrox Corp Bhd.

According to Forbes yesterday, the list honours the leading stock-traded companies in the Asia-Pacific region with an annual revenue of between US$5mil and US$1bil.

“From a universe of 18,000 candidates, roughly 875 passed our criteria for profitability, growth and modest indebtedness,” it said.

The resulting 200 produced the highest sales and earnings per share growth for both the most recent fiscal one and three-year periods, and the strongest five-year average return on equity.

As for the Malaysian companies, four of the five companies are in the technology and technology-related industries, while Kerjaya Prospek is in the construction sector.

Elsoft is involved in the research, design and development of test and burn-in systems and application specific embedded systems.

My E.G. is involved in the provision of electronic government services and related services.

Pentamaster provides manufacturing automation solutions and services and focuses on automated equipment; automated manufacturing solution; and smart control solution systems.

As for Vitrox, it manufactures and is in the development of three-dimensional and line scan vision inspection systems. Its products include machine vision systems, automated board inspection, and electronics communication systems.

Kerjaya Prospek focuses on construction-related services and also manufacturing and property.

Forbes said Japan nearly tripled its presence on the 2017 Forbes Asia’s “Best Under A Billion” list with 38 out of top-200 publicly-traded companies in the Asia-Pacific region, up from 13 last year.

A total of 119 companies are new on this year’s list.

Japanese companies involved in the business services and supplies sector feature strongly on this year’s list with 14 entries, up from two previously.

South Korea has 20 companies as compared to 16 from last year’s list.

Companies from the Greater China region total 100, down from a record high of 130 last year.

Elsewhere in the region, Vietnam has nine companies on this year’s list, Malaysia and Pakistan have five companies each.

Thailand has four companies, while New Zealand and India have three each.

The sole listee from Sri Lanka is tile grout and mortar manufacturer Swisstek (Ceylon). The Philippines and Indonesia have no representation on the list this year.