52 listed PH firms deemed Shariah-compliant

MANILA, Philippines–Fifty-two publicly listed companies in the country, including six which are part of the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index, made it to the latest list of Shariah-compliant companies based on a screening process meant to attract Islamic investors.

The PSEi companies that made it to the latest Shariah roster were: Consunji-led conglomerate DMCI Holdings, homegrown fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp., utility Manila Electric Co., telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., coal mining and power generation firm Semirara Mining and Power Corp. and regional food manufacturer Universal Robina Corp.

The local bourse teamed up with IdealRatings Inc. to screen PSE-listed companies for Shariah compliance in accordance with the globally accepted Accounting and Auditing of Islamic Financial Companies (AAOIFI) standards.

Shariah compliance screening excludes companies with businesses in conventional interest-based lending, financial institutions, pork, alcohol, intoxicants, tobacco, arms and weapons, gambling, casinos, derivatives, pornography, music/entertainment and human stem-cell research.

The screening also covers a company’s financial ratios of cash and interest bearing investments not exceeding 30 percent, interest bearing debts not exceeding 30 percent and accounts receivables not exceeding 67 percent of market capitalization.

If a company has a subsidiary with lending business, this conventional lending business should not exceed more than 5 percent of total revenue. None of the groups with banking businesses thus made it to the list.

The list includes property firms such as Araneta Properties Inc., DoubleDragon Properties Corp., Starmalls Inc., IRC Properties Inc. and Keppel Philippines Properties Inc. alongside private school operators Centro Escolar University and STI Education Systems Holdings Inc.

First Pacific group-led Philex Mining Corp. and its oil and gas exploration arm Philex Petroleum Corp. also made it to the list alongside nickel miners Nickel Asia Corp. and Marcventures Holdings Inc.

Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc., a partnership between San Miguel Corp. and Qatar Telecom, also made it to the Shariah list.