Malaysian firms on 200 best under a billion list

According to Forbes Asia’s list, the top-three performing Malaysian firms in terms of total sales were Scientex (US$834mil or RM3.47bil), Thong Guan Industries (US$229mil or RM952mil) and Comfort Gloves (US$225mil or RM936mil).

PETALING JAYA: A total of 11 Malaysian firms were recognised under Forbes Asia’s 2021 Best Under A Billion list, which highlighted the resilience of 200 public-listed small and mid-sized companies in the Asia-Pacific region with sales under US$1bil (RM4.16bil).

The Malaysian companies that made the list this year were Comfort Gloves Bhd, D&O Green Technologies Bhd, Dancomech Holdings Bhd, Dufu Technology Corp Bhd, Foundpac Group Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Revenue Group Bhd, Scientex Bhd, Thong Guan Industries Bhd, UG Healthcare Corp Ltd and Vitrox Corp Bhd.

According to Forbes Asia’s list, the top-three performing Malaysian firms in terms of total sales were Scientex (US$834mil or RM3.47bil), Thong Guan Industries (US$229mil or RM952mil) and Comfort Gloves (US$225mil or RM936mil).

Scientex manufactures and sells plastic products and also engages in property development.

Thong Guan Industries is primarily involved in the manufacture of plastic packaging, while Comfort Gloves is engaged in the manufacture and trading of natural and synthetic specialty examination gloves.

The Malaysian companies that made the list this year were Comfort Gloves Bhd, D&O Green Technologies Bhd, Dancomech Holdings Bhd, Dufu Technology Corp Bhd, FoundPac Group Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Revenue Group Bhd, Scientex Bhd, Thong Guan Industries Bhd, UG Healthcare Corp Ltd and ViTrox Corp Bhd.(Filr pic shws Dancomech parts supplier for O & G sector,)

In terms of total net income, the top-three performers were Scientex (US$92mil or RM383mil), Comfort Gloves (US$67mil or RM279mil) and ViTrox (US$25mil or RM104mil).

ViTrox specialises in designing and developing automated vision inspection systems and equipment testers for the semiconductor and electronic packaging industries, as well as electronic communications equipment.

Forbes Asia said the sound financial figures of the companies on the list reflected how well they coped in the midst of a global pandemic.

“No surprise, healthcare and pharmaceutical-related companies were standouts while tech and logistics firms linked to the global e-commerce boom also benefitted.”

Forbes Asia said the list was meant to identify companies with long-term sustainable performances across a variety of metrics.

“From a universe of 20,000 publicly traded companies in the Asia-Pacific region with an annual revenue above US$10mil (RM41.58mil) and below US$1bil (RM4.16bil), only these 200 companies were selected.”

Forbes Asia emphasised that the companies on the list, which were unranked, were selected based on a composite score that incorporated their overall track record in measures.

These include debt, sales and earnings-per-share growth over both the most recent fiscal one and three-year periods, as well as the strongest one and five-year average returns on equity.

Hard disk drive components produced by Dufu Technology.

Aside from the quantitative criteria, Forbes Asia said qualitative screens were used as well, such as excluding companies with serious governance issues, questionable accounting, environmental concerns, management issues or legal troubles.

It added that state-controlled and subsidiaries of larger companies were also excluded.

“The criteria also ensured a geographic diversity of companies from across the region. The list used full-year annual results, based on the latest publicly available figures as of Aug 12, 2021, compiled by FactSet.”

FactSet is a United States-based financial data and software company that provides integrated data and software. All other research was done by Forbes Asia.