Seven RI firms make it onto 'Forbes' list

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

U.S.-based Forbes magazine will list seven Indonesian companies among 200 global companies that have boosted sales, profit and shareholder value in the "rough environment" of recent years.

The Best Under a Billion list, which will appear in the Oct. 27 edition of the magazine, comprises companies outside the United States with annual sales in the latest reported year of less than US$1 billion, the magazine said in a statement.

The seven Indonesian companies, all listed, are state-owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang, packaging companies PT Berlina and PT Dynaplast, pharmaceutical companies PT Kalbe Farma and PT Dankos Laboratories, distribution company PT Enseval Putera Megatrading and chemical company PT Unggul Indah Cahaya.

Of roughly 19,000 listed companies around the world qualifying for the list, Forbes screened out most that did not have operating margins of at least 5 percent and average returns on equity of at least 5 percent in the previous five years.

The magazine said that only 4,000 companies met the criteria.

The selected companies were then graded against each other in various one-and-five year performance categories, and the 200 finalists were chosen from among 500 companies with the best results.

Forbes excluded nonoperating companies and those where the overwhelming majority of shares were owned by one or a small group of shareholders.

The 200 companies include 18 from India, 11 from Australia, nine from Hong Kong, seven from Thailand, seven from Indonesia, six from Singapore, five from Japan, four from Taiwan, three from Pakistan, two from South Korea, two from Malaysia, two from New Zealand, two from the Philippines, two from Sri Lanka and one from China.