AUB lands on Forbes list of top Asian firms with sales below $1B

Rebisco Biscuit owner Jacinto Ng’s Asia United Bank joined Filipino companies Crown Asia Chemicals Corp. and power firm Vivant Corp. among the top firms in the region with sales under $1 billion.This was according to Forbes Asia’s 2020 “Best Under A Billion” list, which recognized 200 top-performing companies in Asia-Pacific.

Asia United Bank was started in 1997 and operates commercial banking, consumer banking, treasury and branch banking.It is also involved in remittances and trust activities.

Crown Asia, led by the Villanueva family, makes plastic and/or synthetic resins and compounds and other allied or related products of similar nature. It was founded in 1989.

The Cebu-based Garcia family’s Vivant is a power generation and distribution company. It was started in 1990.

Forbes Asia said the 200 publicly listed companies were selected among a list of 18,000 candidates and had “track records of exceptional corporate performance.”

It noted the data came from available annual results as of July 7 this year, meaning do not reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, the selected companies were a cut above the rest when considering their track record in debt, sales and earnings-per-share growth. Forbes Asia said this was measured over both the most recent one- and three-year fiscal periods, as well as their one- and five-year average returns on equity.

“In addition to these quantitative criteria, qualitative screens were also used, and companies with serious governance issues, questionable accounting, environmental concerns, management issues or legal troubles were excluded,” Forbes Asia said. —Miguel R. Camus INQ