(Oct 30): Twenty-six of the largest Singapore Exchange listed companies have been recognised for their strong financial performance at the second The Edge Singapore Billion Dollar Club Corporate Awards. On Oct 25, CEOs and other representatives from 20 companies attended a ceremony to receive awards for Best Performing Stock, in terms of highest returns to shareholders; Fastest Growing Company, for highest earnings growth; and Most Profitable Company in terms of return on equity. The companies that scored well overall were awarded Best in Sector.
Ben Paul, editor of The Edge Singapore (back row, ninth from left), and Ian Tong, executive director of The Edge Singapore (back row, second from right), with the winners of the second The Edge Singapore Billion Dollar Club Corporate Awards at the Oct 25 ceremony
“This initiative is about giving the largest public-listed companies in Singapore special recognition and coverage, and shining a light on their performance with relatively straightforward financial metrics,” says Ben Paul, editor of The Edge Singapore. “We see this exercise as a natural extension of what we do as a newspaper… a very investor-oriented approach to our reporting of the local corporate sector.”
The Billion Dollar Club comprises companies that have at least $1 billion in market capitalisation, and scores their returns and profitability over a three-year period. The winners are placed into categories according to SGX’s classifications, although the property plays have been split into developers and real estate investment trusts, while companies in the agriculture, hotels and restaurants, and electricity, gas and water sectors have been combined into one category.
The companies that topped their respective sectors are Singapore Post, SATS, Ascendas India Trust, Yanlord Land Group, United Engineers, Thai Beverage, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, SGX, Sheng Siong Group and AusNet Services.
This year, there were 112 companies on SGX that had a market capitalisation of at least $1 billion in the period to March 31, 2017, up from 101 last year. These companies have a combined market value of more than $780 billion. “It is this group of companies that generates much of the return that local investors enjoy, and sets standards for corporate behaviour in Singapore,” Paul adds.
First image: Tong (second from left) with representatives of the winners in the Transport/Storage/Communications category: (From left) Lauren Chan (Singapore Airlines), Jeannie Ong (StarHub) and Paul Coutts (Singapore Post)
Centre image: Representatives of the winners in the Property Development category: (From left) Ching Chiat Kwong (Oxley Holdings), Anthony Chia (Yanlord Land Group) and Raymond Choong (GuocoLand)
Last image: Representatives of the winners in the REITs category: (From left) Sanjeev Dasgupta (Ascendas Property Fund Trustee, manager of Ascendas India Trust) and Alvin Loo (ARA Asset Management, manager of Fortune REIT)
First image: Tong with representatives of the winners in the Services category: (From left) Eugene Cheng (SATS), Raymond Kwong (Silverlake Axis) and Chong Weng Chiew (CITIC Envirotech)
Centre image: Representatives of the winners in the Multi-industry category: (From left) Roy Tan (United Engineers), Eleana Tan (ST Engineering) and Ho Kah Meng (GL)
Last image: Tong with representatives of two of the winners in the Commerce category: (From left) Meng Fanqiu (China Aviation Oil [Singapore] Corp) and Wong Soong Kit (Sheng Siong Group). The other winners were Jardine Strategic Holdings and Dairy Farm International Holdings.
First image: Alvin Ng (Venture Corp) with the company’s awards in the Manufacturing category. The other winner was Thai Beverage.
Centre image: Lim Christina Hariyanto (Bumitama Agri) with the company’s award in the Agriculture/Hotels/ Restaurants/Electricity/Gas/Water category. The other winner was AusNet Services.
Last image: Tong with representatives of two of the winners in the Finance category: (From left) Koh Ching Ching (Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp) and Teo Ai June (Singapore Exchange). The other winner was Pacific Century Regional Developments.
