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REVIEW 200/MALAYSIA Petronas Strikes Gold At last, the national oil company takes the top spot--and high time too: It's profitable, global and well managed By S. Jayasankaran/KUALA LUMPUR Issue cover-dated December 25, 2003 - January 01, 2004
Charts: THE ONLY SURPRISE was that it took this long: Malaysia's largest company, Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, grabbed top spot in this year's REVIEW 200 Malaysia list. It was a first for the oil giant, which only came sixth last year, and knocked nine-time leader Genting, the gambling and cruise-ship company, into fourth place. State-owned Petronas isn't listed, but it dominates Malaysia's corporate scene and is crucial to the federal government's annual spending plans. Last year it paid more than 10 billion ringgit ($2.6 billion) in taxes and was by far the country's most profitable company, registering a net profit of 15 billion ringgit on sales of more than 81.4 billion ringgit. But what sets Petronas apart from other government oil firms has been its transformation, over a decade, from protected state company to competitive multinational. Today, it operates in 34 countries and its international operations made up 75% of revenues last year. In addition, its international reserves of oil now stand at 4.74 billion barrels, slightly more than Malaysia's national reserves of 4.5 billion barrels. On top of that, Petronas is well managed: The company's return on net revenue was 33% last year, among the highest in the global oil industry. Small wonder Petronas has reached the No. 1 position. Public Bank and Maxis Communications retained their second and third spots respectively. No surprises there. Public Bank made a pretax profit of over 1 billion ringgit in the first nine months of 2003. Maxis, Malaysia's largest mobile-phone company, controlled by tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan, is so favoured by institutional investors that its share price has almost doubled since its listing last year. Another Krishnan-controlled company, pay-TV operator Astro All Asia Network, fell one slot to 10th place. Genting toppled from first to fourth spot because the survey's respondents graded it lower in such categories as "long-term vision" and "innovation." Genting has made enormous investments in cruise-ship operator Star Cruises, which suffered during the global panic over the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome earlier in 2003. Malayan Banking, the country's largest bank, kept its fifth position mainly due to approval by respondents of its "financial soundness." Most analysts expect the bank to make a net profit of over 1 billion ringgit in the year to June 30, 2004. Two of tycoon Francis Yeoh's companies,YTL Corp. and YTL Power, make it to six and seventh place. In just two years, Yeoh has transformed his utility companies from local businesses into global operators with acquisitions in England and Australia. Hong Leong, controlled by tycoon Quek Leng Chan, dropped one notch to eighth place. The group encompasses 15 listed companies in everything from stockbroking and banking to chip-making and property development. IOI Group drops one slot to ninth position. Headed by
unionist-turned-businessman Lee Shin Cheng, IOI has become another institutional
favourite, increasing shareholder value by acquiring synergistic businesses. It
is Malaysia's largest privately owned oil-palm grower, which feeds into its
real-estate business by giving it the flexibility to re-zone agricultural land
for property development. No ResultsPlease supply at least one search term. Advertise on feer.com and in FEER |
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