KUALA LUMPUR: 89 Malaysian companies have joined the ranks of Fortune magazine's inaugural list of Southeast Asia's top 500 companies.
Companies are ranked by total revenues for their latest available respective fiscal years ended on, or before, Dec 31, 2023.
In a press release today, Fortune said its 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 top 500 companies include seven Southeast Asian nations, namely Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia.
Indonesia dominates with 110 companies, Thailand followed with 107, amd Malaysia with 89 companies on the list, slightly higher than Singapore's 84. Vietnam is home to 70 companies on the list, the Philippines to 38, and Cambodia to two.
Maybank is the only Malaysian company to make it into the Top 20 Companies by Revenue at No.17 with US$14.15 billion.
On the Top 20 Companies by Profitability, three Malaysian companies took the No.11, No.17, and No.19 spots: Maybank, CIMB Group Holdings, and Public Bank.
The energy sector holds three of the top 10 spots, with Thailand's PTT coming in at No.2, Indonesia's Pertamina at No.3, and Indonesian state electricity company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara, taking the No.6 spot.
Singapore has the most companies in the top 10, with Trafigura joined by Wilmar at No.4, Olam at No. 5, Flex at No.8 and DBS at No.10.
Also in the top ten are Thailand's CP All Plc at No.7 and the Philippines' San Miguel at No.9.
The ten largest companies on the list reported revenues of US$650 billion. That accounts for more than a third of the revenue for fiscal year 2023 across all Southeast Asia 500 companies which reported total revenues of US$1.8 trillion.
The minimum revenue threshold to be included on the list was US$460.8 million.
With collective revenues of US$242 billion, banking was Southeast Asia's second-largest sector.
"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 U.S. 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," Asia executive editor Clay Chandler said.