20 Filipino Companies Make it in List of Asia's 500 Fastest-Growing Companies

Twenty Philippines-based companies have been cited in the 2021 ranking of Asia’s fastest-growing companies. The list was researched and compiled by the business news platform The Financial Times along with regional business news platform Nikkei Asia and market and consumer data firm Statista. 

The ranking reflects the overall performance of companies across the continent between 2016 to 2019 so it does not yet reflect the effects of the pandemic. Still, it’s an exhaustive list that reveals the companies that were “in a position of strength” coming into the crisis. According to the Financial Times, the companies were ranked by their compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue during the inclusive years.

The top Filipino company in the list, which comes in at No. 116, is Powerfill, an energy company established in 2009. The company, which operates 53 gasoline stations as of early 2019, expects to have over 200 outlets “in the next two to five years.” It reported revenues of $42.55 million (P2.064 billion) in 2019, up from just $7.63 million (P370.19 million) in 2016.

It’s followed by Edgar “Injap” Sia’s DoubleDragon Properties Corp. at No. 121, which just completed the initial public offering of its real estate investment trust subsidiary (DDMP REIT) last week. The company reported revenues of nearly $400 million (P19.4 billion) in 2019, an impressive 444 percent increase from 2016 revenues of $74.86 million (P3.63 billion).

The top three Filipino company in the list is fixed broadband provider Converge ICT at No. 135. The company, which made a successful debut in the Philippine Stock Exchange last year in the middle of the pandemic, reported revenues of $180.58 million (P8.76 billion) in 2019, jumping from $38.20 million in 2016 (P1.85 billion). 

No. 4 and 5 are listed F&B company Fruitas Holdings Inc. (No. 176, 2019 revenues of $38.43 million) and insurance company Mercantile Insurance (No. 233, $31.08 million).

The rest of the top Philippine companies in the list are: 

No. 256 – KMC Solutions (flexible workspace provider), $48.12 million

No. 288 – Sta. Lucia Land (property), $154.32 million

No. 294 – Center for Health Services Inc (health), $5.30 million

No. 305 – People360 Consulting Corporation (occupational safety and health), $1.31 million

No. 354 – Aidea (construction), $10.41 million

No. 364 – Golden ABC (fashion), $201.16 million

No. 383 – Mega Fishing Corporation (canning), $56.34 million

No. 405 – BDO Unibank (banking and financial services), $3.56 billion

No. 417 – St. Martin Coop (financial and support services), $1.32 million

No. 430 – Pryce Corp. (property, energy, and chemicals), $24.83 million

No. 445 – Century Pacific Food (food and canning), $854.04 million

No. 468 – Megaworld (property), $1.3 billion

No. 480 – Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures (restaurants), $173.48 million

No. 481 – First Gen Corp (energy), $2.151 million

No. 483 – Puregold Priceclub (retail), $3.25 billion 

Of the 20 Filipino companies, only Pryce Corp., Century Pacific Food, Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, and Puregold Price Club also made an appearance in the 2020 list. 

The top company in the list is Singapore-based tech company Carro, which grew an incredible 14,158 percent between 2016 and 2019 ($600,000 to $86.35 million). It was followed by Indonesia-based ecommerce company Kioson ($1.93 million to $205 million), then Singaporean SCI Ecommerce ($600,000 to $46.08 million).

According to The Financial Times, to be included in the list, the company must meet the following criteria:

- Revenue of at least $100,000 generated in 2016 (or currency value equivalent as of December 31 2016);

- Revenue of at least $1m generated in 2019 (or currency value equivalent as of December 31 2019);

- An independent company (not a subsidiary or branch office of any kind);

- Headquartered in one of these 11 territories in the Asia-Pacific region – Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam;

- Revenue growth between 2016 and 2019 that was primarily organic (ie “internally” generated).

Companies were identified by Statista and invited to participate in the project. The full list of the 500 High-Growth Companies can be seen here.