Fortune Magazine's inaugural ranking of Southeast Asia's 500 largest firms offer interesting insights about the region. (Photo courtesy of Forbes)

San Miguel is an Asean whale, but 'Philippines Inc.' is just a regional minnow

When it comes to total sales, San Miguel Corp. is the undisputed leader among Philippine conglomerates with over $26 billion in revenues last year, according to the inaugural edition of the Fortune Southeast Asia 500 list.

In fact, the conglomerate — ranked ninth in the region thanks to its revenues that are equivalent to an estimated one-sixth of the country’s economic output — is the only Filipino firm to have broken into the top ten of the US magazine’s corporate rankings for Southeast Asia.

The top ten is dominated by names such as Thai petroleum giant PTT, Indonesia’s state owned refiner Pertamina, Thai food conglomerate Charoen Pokphand, and Singaporean financial juggernaut DBS Group.

According to Fortune, the total revenues of the Ramon Ang-led conglomerate is bigger than the next three biggest corporate giants in the Philippines combined.

There SM Investments Corp. of the Sy family with $10.2 billion in revenues last year (giving it a Southeast Asian ranking of 27th); Meralco run by tycoon Manuel Pangilinan with $7.9 billion (regional rank of 34th); and JG Summit Holdings of the Gokognwei family with $5.9 billion (regional rank of 55th).

Revealing insights

What’s also interesting, though, is how Fortune assessed the performance of Philippine corporate giants relative to their Asean peers.

The Philippines is a laggard when it comes to having the most number of large firms in the regional rankings. Click on the image to see the full-sized graph. (Graph courtesy of Fortune Southeast Asia 500 list)

According to Fortune’s Clay Chandler, the Philippines sits near the bottom of the list in terms of countries in the region with the most number of firms in the Top 500.

There are only 38 Filipino companies on the list compared a staggering 110 corporate giants for Indonesia. That’s understandable because Indonesia is Asean’s largest economy.

But compared to similarly sized economies like Vietnam, the Philippines performs poorly in the rankings. Vietnam has 70 firms in the Fortune Southeast Asia 500 list, which is almost double that of the Philippines in the tally. Only Cambodia is ranked lower in the seven-country listing with only two companies included.

Vietnam has, of course, often been compared against the Philippines in recent years for its ability to draw in more foreign investments.

Large Philippine corporations also lag the region in terms of aggregate revenues for 2023. Click on the image to see the full-sized graph. (Graph courtesy of Fortune Southeast Asia 500 list)

In terms of total revenues, the Philippines fares poorly, too, with its largest firms only tallying a total of $130.9 billion in total sales last year. That’s good enough to garner the country only sixth in the seven-nation list, again behind Vietnam’s $144.4 billion in total corporate sales.

In this regard, the undisputed leader is the tiny island state of Singapore, where companies tallied $619.4 billion in sales last year, almost double the $321.4 billion reported by firms in the sprawling Indonesian archipelago.

But the largest Filipino corporations are some of the best in the region when it comes to average profitability. Click on the image to see the full-sized graph. (Graph courtesy of Fortune Southeast Asia 500 list)

There is one metric, though, where Philippine corporations excel in the region, and that is in terms of profitability.

According to Fortune, the largest Filipino firms are the second-most profitable in Asean, with an average net income of $350 million last year, ranking behind Singapore firms’ $527.1 million.

By this measure, Indonesians — despite leading the region in terms of the number of corporate giants and total revenues — come in only at third behind the Philippines.

Vietnamese firms which edged out Filipino counterparts in terms of sales are only, on average, half as profitable at $154.4 million as those in the Philippines.

Dynamic region

According to Fortune, the rankings “reflects a dynamic and fast-changing region—one that boasts a GDP of $4 trillion, and one whose core economies are growing notably faster than those of Europe or the US."

“Southeast Asia is also taking on far greater significance in the global economy,” the magazine said. “In the wake of the COVID pandemic, a host of Global 500 multinationals have shifted more of their supply chains to Southeast Asian nations.”

“Foreign direct investment to the region is soaring,” Fortune added. “And with a young and growing population of 680 million, low inflation, and stable exchange rates, Southeast Asia is emerging as an attractive market in its own right.”

About the author
Daxim L. Lucas
Daxim L. Lucas

Senior Reporter

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