Puregold, Jollibee, Robinsons Retail land on 'Forbes Asia Fabulous 50 List'

Three Philippine companies made it to this year's "Forbes Asia Fabulous 50 List," joining the ranks of the "corporate stars of the Asia-Pacific region."

The companies on the list are fastfood operator Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), grocery chain Puregold Price Club Inc., and Gokongwei-led holding fir Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI).

The list consists of the most publicly-traded companies in Asia Pacific, which Forbes tagged as "the region's best of the best."

Jollibee was reported to have a market capitalization of $5.9 billion as of August 2016, with a total of 18,295 employees.

While its Philippine operations account for some 80 percent of sales, it also operates businesses in Singapore, Vietnam, the Middle East, and the United States.

Puregold registered a market capitalization of $2.6 billion as of end-August, with total employees of 5,199.

The company ended 2015 with 135 hypermarkets, 93 supermarkets, 28 extras, 10 S&R warehouse clubs, and 16 S&Rs - Quick Service Restaurants.

Also on the list is Robinsons Retail, which reported a market capitalization of $2.5 billion as of end-August and 9,967 employees.

RRHI has for its core retail operations six business segments—supermarkets, department stores, do-it-yourself (DIY) stores, convenience stores, drug stores, and specialty stores.

Its brands include "Handyman Do it Best," "True Value," Topshop," "Toys 'R' Us," and "Ministop."

According to Forbes, the top 50 companies were chosen from a poll of 1,524 public companies which have at least $1.7 billion in annual revenue.

Private companies are excluded from the list.

"The goal is to highlight entrepreneurial outfits, not ones living off government connections," it said.

This year's top company in internet retail giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., with a market capitalization of $200.7 billion.

"This year, one company outshines the others and it wasn’t even eligible for the list until this year. Meeting the requirement of being publicly traded for at least a year, Alibaba not only joins the roster in its first attempt but boasts the highest market value of any of the 50 companies and outperforms on a range of other metrics," Forbes said. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News