Six Philippine firms included in Forbes Global 2000 list

FEWER Philippine companies landed on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world’s biggest, most powerful and most valuable companies.

Six companies — down from eight last year — bannered by SM Investments Corp. joined other global corporate heavyweights in the 16th edition of the annual ranking based on sales, profits, assets and market value, Forbes said in a statement.

The holding firm of Henry Sy, Sr., the country’s richest man, stood at 883rd place, down from 823rd last year.

BDO Unibank, Inc., the banking unit owned by Mr. Sy, also saw its ranking slip to 1,072nd position from 1,018th a year ago.

Top Frontier Investment Holdings, Inc., the largest shareholder of San Miguel Corp., tumbled to 1,210th spot from 1,128th, while Ayala Corp., the Philippines’ oldest conglomerate, dropped to 1,216th place from 1,175th.

JG Summit Holdings, Inc., the holding firm of the Gokongwei family, slid to 1,506th slot from 1,151st, and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. of tycoon George S.K. Ty declined to 1,750th position from 1,531st.

“You can say that these are the companies that are too big to absorb the heat because they can spread the risks,” Rens V. Cruz II, analyst at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a phone interview.

“You also have the two biggest banks in the country and going into 2018, financial is the most profitable sector,” he added.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. and Manila Electric Co. missed this year’s ranking after being included in the 2017 edition.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China dominated the elite list for the sixth consecutive year, with China Construction Bank remaining in second place.

JPMorgan Chase became the largest company in the US, moving up a notch to third place and overtaking Berkshire Hathaway, which slid to fourth place.

Rounding out the top 10 are Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Apple, Bank of China, and Ping An Insurance, respectively.

Collectively, the Forbes Global 2000 accounts for $ 39.1 trillion in sales, $ 3.2 trillion in profit, $ 189 trillion in assets and $ 56.8 trillion in market value. All metrics are up double digits year over year, with profits up 28%.

“It’s been a strong year for businesses worldwide, and companies on the Forbes 2018 Global 2000 saw their market value, assets, sales and profits jump,” Halah Touryalai, deputy editor for Money & Markets at Forbes Media, was quoted in the statement as saying.

“But while this year’s market correction may not hurt the world’s largest public companies, looming geopolitical challenges, like a trade war, are a different story. With China and the United States making up more than 40% of the Global 2000, the possibility of a trade war between the two is a major risk for global companies.”

Forbes used an equal weighting of all four metric — sales, profits, assets and market value — to rank companies according to size. Each company received a separate score for each metric, with Forbes adding up all the scores to compile a composite score. The highest composite score got the highest rank. —