Petron Corp. dislodges Napocor in report ranking top 1000 RP firms
10/27/2009 | 06:39 PM
Oil refiner Petron Corp. is number one in this year’s edition of BusinessWorld’s Top 1000 Corporations in the Philippines, dislodging state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) from a position it held for 14 of the last 15 years.
Petron recorded gross revenues of P268.8 billion in 2008, 26.2 percent higher year on year, at a time when businesses’ financial health deteriorated in the face of a global financial crisis and phenomenal spikes in oil prices.
The feat also came after Napocor, following aggressive state privatization efforts, lost its prized transmission grid and several generation plants, disarming the firm’s balance sheet of the revenue-generating assets that had allowed it to corner the top spot in the annual list since 1994, when it knocked off perennial frontrunner Petron.
Napocor briefly lost the post in 2004 to chipmaker TI (Phils.), Inc. It is unlikely that the power firm will regain the crown as its books were officially separated from National Transmission Corp. (Transco) and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) on October 1 last year.
Transco, which operates the country’s nationwide power transmission system, was turned over to a consortium called National Grid Corp. of the Philippines after a successful auction in 2007.
Psalm, meanwhile, is almost done with selling the generation assets of Napocor.
The once lone power giant is now left with only the operation of its small power utilities group or the SPUG.
Napocor’s 2008 financial statements remained available at the time of publication but unofficial figures obtained by BusinessWorld would rank it between 291st and 295th.
This year’s Top 1000 list also shows both thinner toplines and bottomlines for most big firms as they bore the brunt of the crisis.
Overall revenues of firms cited in the list went up by a modest 7.5 percent in 2008, the slowest since the Asian financial crisis. The aggregate bottom line plummeted by 18.5 percent, the first time since 1997 when top corporations’ profits shed 34.2 percent.
Oil prices’ hitting record highs last year also hurt the income of fuel-dependent firms such as flagship carrier Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL).
With income bleeding by P12.3 billion last year, PAL, which placed tenth in the rankings, was the biggest loser among the Top 1000 corporations.
Two other oil companies, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. (2nd) and Chevron Philippines, Inc. (5th) made it to the top five in this year’s edition of the Top 1000.
Rounding out the top were power distributor Manila Electric Co. (3rd), TI (Phils.), Inc. (4th), Swiss food manufacturer Nestle Philippines, Inc. (6th), telecommunication giants Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (7th) and Smart Communications, Inc. (8th), and Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (9th). - BusinessWorld
Petron recorded gross revenues of P268.8 billion in 2008, 26.2 percent higher year on year, at a time when businesses’ financial health deteriorated in the face of a global financial crisis and phenomenal spikes in oil prices.
The feat also came after Napocor, following aggressive state privatization efforts, lost its prized transmission grid and several generation plants, disarming the firm’s balance sheet of the revenue-generating assets that had allowed it to corner the top spot in the annual list since 1994, when it knocked off perennial frontrunner Petron.
Napocor briefly lost the post in 2004 to chipmaker TI (Phils.), Inc. It is unlikely that the power firm will regain the crown as its books were officially separated from National Transmission Corp. (Transco) and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) on October 1 last year.
Transco, which operates the country’s nationwide power transmission system, was turned over to a consortium called National Grid Corp. of the Philippines after a successful auction in 2007.
Psalm, meanwhile, is almost done with selling the generation assets of Napocor.
The once lone power giant is now left with only the operation of its small power utilities group or the SPUG.
Napocor’s 2008 financial statements remained available at the time of publication but unofficial figures obtained by BusinessWorld would rank it between 291st and 295th.
This year’s Top 1000 list also shows both thinner toplines and bottomlines for most big firms as they bore the brunt of the crisis.
Overall revenues of firms cited in the list went up by a modest 7.5 percent in 2008, the slowest since the Asian financial crisis. The aggregate bottom line plummeted by 18.5 percent, the first time since 1997 when top corporations’ profits shed 34.2 percent.
Oil prices’ hitting record highs last year also hurt the income of fuel-dependent firms such as flagship carrier Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL).
With income bleeding by P12.3 billion last year, PAL, which placed tenth in the rankings, was the biggest loser among the Top 1000 corporations.
Two other oil companies, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. (2nd) and Chevron Philippines, Inc. (5th) made it to the top five in this year’s edition of the Top 1000.
Rounding out the top were power distributor Manila Electric Co. (3rd), TI (Phils.), Inc. (4th), Swiss food manufacturer Nestle Philippines, Inc. (6th), telecommunication giants Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (7th) and Smart Communications, Inc. (8th), and Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (9th). - BusinessWorld
