KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 89 Malaysian companies, led by Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), have made it into Fortune’s inaugural list of the Top 500 Southeast Asian countries by revenue.
The Fortune Southeast Asia 500 rankings for 2024, which ranks companies by revenue for the 2023 fiscal year, includes companies from seven nations, namely Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia.
The minimum revenue threshold to be included on the list was US$460.8mil.
According to Fortune, a global multi-platform media company, the focus on the region comes as Southeast Asia gains greater significance in the global economy due to shifting supply chains and the rapid development of the region’s economies.
“The Fortune Southeast Asia 500 reflects a dynamic and fast-changing region — one whose core economies are growing notably faster than those of Europe or the US.
“This is partly due to Southeast Asia taking on far greater significance in the global economy, not least because a host of Global 500 multinationals have shifted more of their supply chains to Southeast Asian nations,” said Fortune executive editor for Asia Clay Chandler in a statement.
In this year’s list, Indonesia makes the biggest splash with 110 companies in the rankings while Thailand follows with 107.
Malaysia has 89 entrants on the list, which is just five more than Singapore’s 85, while Vietnam makes the list with 70 companies, Philippines, 38, and Cambodia, two.
Malaysia’s largest company by market capitalisation, Maybank, is the country’s only entrant into the Top 20 companies by revenue at No.17 with US$14.15bil.
Ranked by profitability, three Malaysian companies made the Top 20, namely Maybank, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Public Bank Bhd at No.11, 17 and 19 respectively.
Topping the list at No.1 is Singapore-based commodities trader Trafigura with sales revenue of US$244bil. Thailand’s PPT is the first runner-up while Indonesia’s Pertamina rounds off the Top 3.
Fortune noted that the 10 largest companies on the list reported a combined revenue of US$640bil, which made up more than a third of the US$1.8 trillion revenue recorded across all the Southeast Asia 500 companies in the 2023 fiscal year.