SMIC, 5 other PH firms make it to Forbes’ most powerful list

Six Philippine companies led by Sy family-led conglomerate SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) landed on Forbes magazine’s Global 2000 list, which ranks the world’s “biggest, most-powerful and most-valuable” companies.

The list also includes SM’s banking arm BDO Unibank as well as Top Frontier Investment Holdings, Ayala Corp., LT Group Inc. (LTG) and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.

The ranking is based on analysis of four metrics: sales, profits, assets and market value.

“The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on this year’s Global 2000 list, with total revenue and profits falling from last year,” said Andrea Murphy, Forbes statistics editor. “While certain sectors like the airline industry were hit hard, big-box retailers did well amid the shift to online shopping. Robust M&A (merger and acquisition) activity and the growth in IPOs (initial public offerings) over the last year has also led to the debut of many companies on the Global 2000.” Among the local companies that made the cut, SMIC has the biggest market value ($24.3 billion) while BDO is the most profitable ($569.5 million).

SMIC ranked number 877 while BDO landed on the 1,159th spot.

Top Frontier ranked 1,183rd while Ayala, LTG and Metrobank claimed the 1,801st, 1,831st and 1,929th spots, respectively.

The companies on the list saw their collective market capitalization surge by 47 percent to $79.8 trillion even as their collective revenues fell by 6 percent to $39.8 trillion and profits declined by 24 percent to $2.5 trillion. Despite the downturn in sales and profits, total assets and market value were up.

For the ninth consecutive year, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China ranked first, followed by Chase & Co., which returned to the number 2 spot and Berkshire Hathaway, which rose by one notch to third spot.

Regionally, the United States boasts of the most companies on the list with 590, followed by China (mainland and Hong Kong) with 350. Rounding out the top five countries represented are Japan, United Kingdom and South Korea. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla