GOOD NEWS: PH stock market, one of the best performing global markets in 2014

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Investors and would-be-investors in the PH stock market must be excited to hear this great news! Confidence in the vibrant PH economy has not faded, to date!

The Philippine stock market landed number 7 on the list of the best performing global markets in 2014. It had an increase of 22.01%, with benchmark year-end-performance set at December 23, 2014; this means the PH stock exchange index's performance may be higher than what was recorded by CNN on the last trading day, December 29; that's around (22.01% + 0.62%) = a whooping 22.63%!The PH stock market even outpaced that of neighboring Indonesia's (20.24%) at number 9.

Image Courtesy: CNN

For the common tao, or in layman's term (well, also as how a non-Economics student like me understands haha), this only means that more investors are interested to pour their cash into public companies because they know these companies may be regional economic giants. Not only are they interested, but they are optimistic that the promising economic success story of the Philippines will steal the international spotlight soon. However, here's a caveat, the article only mentioned 74 big markets; the others have not been included in the list (there are more than 190 nations in the world!).

Leading the list of top performing international markets are Argentina (54.51%) and economic giant China (43.32%). It may be recalled that this year's most valuable tech startup is Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker which overtook Samsung in terms of sales units (in some countries that Samsun formerly dominated) for the first time in years, valued at 45 billion USD.

The worst global markets with biggest losses in 2014 include those of Greece (-26.62%) and Russia (-44.9%) which made headlines this year for annexing Ukraine's region Crimea. It's believed that Russia's on a recession today as an effect of the collapse of the oil prices worldwide (due to increased US supplies) and the economic sanctions imposed by countries against the political and military struggles ongoing at the proximity of Russia's borders.

PH improves in ease of doing business! Check out the largest companies in the Philippines.

Recently, the Philippines was heralded by the World Bank as the most improved country in terms of Ease of Doing Business ranking. The Philippines jumped 30 spots from 138th to 108th this year. (Wow!)

This 30-spot jump was the biggest improvement for any country in the world this year. This could be accredited to gains in the following indicators: Resolving Insolvency indicator (where PH jumped from 165th to 100th), Getting Credit, Electricity, Paying Taxes, Cross-Border Trading, Dealing with Construction Permits, and Registering Property.

Seems like the PH is the up and coming roaring tiger cub economy of the century, to follow the lead of the Four Asian Tigers - Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. It's perhaps the best time to know which PH companies are creating this wave of sustained economic growth.

 

Would you know which companies are the largest in the Philippines? Well, according to a list made by Forbes in April 2013, eight (8) companies made it to the list of 2000 largest companies in the world.

 San Miguel Corporation leads the group of 8 major companies that would somehow drive the economic future of the Philippines. It's then followed by tycoon Henry Sy's SM Investments.

The list of largest companies in the Philippines are as follows:

1. San Miguel

Rank: 694

Sales: $16.6 B

Assets: $0.7 B

Profits: $25.1 B

Market Value: $7 B

2. SM Investments

Rank: 915

Sales: $5.3 B

Assets: $0.6 B

Profits: $13.6 B

Market Value: $16.6 B

3. PLDT

Rank: 1060

Sales: $4 B

Assets: $0.9 B

Profits: $9.9 B

Market Value: $15.1 B

4. BPI

Rank: 1142

Sales: $1.4 B

Assets: $0.4 B

Profits: $23.9 B

Market Value: $9.1 B

5. Manila Electric

Rank: 1308

Sales: $6.8 B

Assets: $0.4 B

Profits: $5.3 B

Market Value: $9.2 B

6. Aboitiz Equity Ventures

Rank: 1642

Sales: $1.6 B

Assets: $0.5 B

Profits: $4.6 B

Market Value: $7.8 B

7. Metropolitan Bank and Trust

Rank: 1666

Sales: $1.5 B

Assets: $0.3 B

Profits: $21.7 B

Market Value: $6 B

8. Ayala

Rank: 1784

Sales: $2.5 B

Assets: $0.3 B

Profits: $11.9 B

Market Value: $8.2 B

Smart, Meralco, Shell, Chevron, Nestle make it to top of 500 non-individual (corporate) taxpayers list

Telecommunications giant Smart, electric utility and distributor Meralco, oil titans Shell and Chevron, and food and beverage giant Nestle led the list of top non-individual (company) taxpayers of 2011 in the Philippines. The list was released by BIR to give hint as to which PH companies have paid less and which companies have paid accordingly in 2011.

Image, Data Courtesy: Inquirer, BIR

The full list of top 2011 PH non-individual (company) taxpayers is found here. The top 20 corporate taxpayers are as follows:

1 001901673-000 SMART COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED - P10,235,358,541.64

2 000101528-000 MANILA ELECTRIC COMPANY "MERALCO" - P8,302,481,339.38

3 000662551-000 SHELL PHILIPPINES EXPLORATION, B.V, - P6,367,809,783.82

4 206136596-000 CHEVRON MALAMPAYA LLC - P6,309,861,723.00

5 000421786-000 NESTLE PHILIPPINES INC - P4,886,077,359.00

6 006807251-000 SAN MIGUEL BREWERY INC. - P4,775,481,657.84

7 000768480-000 GLOBE TELECOM, INC. - P4,522,451,208.31

8 007515588-000 PMFTC INC - P3,709,288,593.70

9 000168801-000 PETRON CORPORATION - P2,620,598,749.07

10 000283731-000 PHILEX MINING CORP - P1,876,747,468.50

11 004470601-000 FIRST GAS POWER CORPORATION - P1,492,555,812.60

12 000164757-000 PILIPINAS SHELL PETROLEUM CORPORATION - P1,318,172,492.44

13 005038428-000 MANILA WATER COMPANY, INC. - P1,287,736,959.20

14 003841103-000 TEAM SUAL CORPORATION - P1,227,008,548.06

15 000342744-000 UNILEVER PHILIPPINES,INC. - P1,020,290,189.70

16 000887972-000 PHILIPPINE AMUSEMENT AND GAMING CORPORATION - P960,262,390.46

17 000237540-000 LAFARGE REPUBLIC, INC. - P901,299,306.06

18 005017501-000 SAN ROQUE POWER CORPORATION - P885,925,077.00

19 238684383-000 EMPERADOR DISTILLERS, INC. - P863,017,104.00

20 004625830-000 CITRA METRO MANILA TOLLWAYS CORPORATION - P856,585,600.86

Good News: PH gets first-ever investment grade

Photo Courtesy: HopeAndFail

A report from ABS-CBNNews has confirmed that the Philippines got its first-ever investment grade debt rating today (Wednesday), as Fitch Ratings gave the country a 'BBB-' with a stable outlook.

"The Philippine economy has been resilient, expanding 6.6% in 2012 amid a weak global economic backdrop. Strong domestic demand drove this outturn," Fitch said.

Fitch, however, expects the PH economy to slow down to 5.5% this year, lower than government target growth of 6-7% growth.

The Philippines still awaits two other internationaly recognized credit ratings agencies' provision of investment grade ratings - one from Standard & Poor's and the other from Moody's Investors Service, which both rate the country a notch below investment grade.

S&P awarded the Philippines a BB+ with a positive outlook, while Moody's gave it a Ba1 with a positive outlook

What does investment grade mean?

There are many dimensions of the term investment grade. Investopedia defines investment-grade for a company as the following:

Investment grade refers to the quality of a company's credit. In order to be considered an investment grade issue, the company must be rated at 'BBB' or higher by Standard and Poor's or Moody's. Anything below this 'BBB' rating is considered non-investment grade. If the company or bond is rated 'BB' or lower it is known as junk grade, in which case the probability that the company will repay its issued debt is deemed to be speculative.

Investment grade, in the context of the country's ability to pay off its debts, means that the country is likely able to meet its obligations to creditor banks and other financial institutions. This means that the Philippines will be able to secure a spot in terms of financial investments (FDIs) and loan with relatively lower interests since there's no speculation it couldn't pay off its debts, as seen in the Aquino administration's continuous allotment of a big chunk of the government budget to paying off (bad) debts, in order for the country to settle its accounts and eventually be guaranteed access to more international funding due to its high reputation (investment grade).

Furthermore, financial dictionary defines investment grade as an indicator of a corporate bond's "creditworthiness and likelihood of default".

11 Filipino billionaires in Forbes 2013 list, mall tycoon Henry Sy leads

As the economy and stock market of the Philippines progressed and outperformed others, 11 Filipinos made it to the Forbes Magazine 2013 global billionaires' list, with five more Filipino billionaires added from a total of six last year.

Number 1 Filipino tycoon and business magnate Henry Sy, and his family, ranked 68th on the list with a net worth of $13.2 billion as of March 2013.

"The Philippines' richest man Henry Sy saw his fortune swell by more than $5 billion as shares of his holding firm SM Investments, the country's most valuable company, surged by over 50 percent, fueled by reports that it may merge its property units," Forbes said.

Lucio Tan, owner of tobacco, alcohol, airline and real estate firms, and his family ranked second in the Filipino billionaires list with a net worth of $5 billion. 

The new members of the billionaires' list are this year are Consunji and family, Ty and family, the Co couple, Coyiuto, Tan Caktiong and family, and Gotianun and family. 

Meanwhile, the biggest gainer title goes to Enrique Razon who debuted in the billionaires list just last year. Razon, owner of International Container Terminal Services (ICTS) which purchased various ports worldwide, saw his wealth hike by over $3 billion after Bloomberry Resorts,  his hotel and casino venture, joined the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The names and ranks of the Filipino billionaires worldwie in 2013 are as follows:

1. No. 68 - Henry Sy ($13.2 billion)

2. No. 248 - Lucio Tan ($5 billion)

3. No. 258 - Enrique Razon Jr. ($4.9 billion)

4. No. 345 - Andrew Tan ($3.95 billion)

5. No. 503 - David Consunji and family ($2.8 billion)

6. No. 554 - George Ty and family ($2.6 billion)

7. No. 736 - Lucio and Susan Co ($2 billion)

8. No. 931 - Robert Coyiuto, Jr. ($1.6 billion)

9. No. 1031 - Tony Tan Caktiong and family ($1.4 billion)

10. No. 1175 - Andrew Gotianun and family ($1.2 billion)

11. No. 1175 - Roberto Ongpin ($1.2 billion)

Forbes noted that all the 1,426 billionaires of the world saw an increase in its aggregate net worth from $4.6 trillion to $5.4 trillion, which is roughly near (hundreds of billions in dollars) the gross domestic product (GDP) of Japan or the GDPs of France and Brazil combined in 2011.

Together, the net worth of the Philippine billionaires this year totaled to $39.85 billion, around 16.75 percent of the Philippine economy in 2012.