EIGHT MALAYSIAN SME COMPANIES IN FORBES' UNDER A BILLION LIST

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, Sept 11 (Bernama) -- Eight Malaysian companies are among the 200
small and medium-sized companies in the Asia Pacific that got into Forbes Asia's
fifth annual "Best Under A Billion" list for 2009.

The companies are Coastal Contracts (marine transportation), Efficient
E-Solutions (information technology outsourcing), ETI Tech (batteries), Hai-O
Enterprise (cosmetics), Kumpulan Fima (food processing), NTPM (paper products),
Success Transformer (electrical manufacturing) and YNH Property (palm oil).

According to Forbes Asia today, the winners were culled from over 25,000
publicly listed companies with under US$1 billion in sales.

Four Malaysian companies -- Coastal Contracts, Kumpulan Fima, NTPM and YNH
Property -- each recorded US$101 million in sales.

For the others, Hai-O Enterprise registered US$122 million in sales, Success
Transformer US$53 million, ETI Tech US$24 million, and Efficient E-Solutions
US$17 million.

Forbes Asia said a third of last year's companies returned to this year's
list, with all had either increased sales and profits over the past 12 months or
were forecast to do so in coming quarters.

It said that 78 companies from Hong Kong and China or nearly 40 percent
dominated the list, followed by Japan with 24 companies, South Korea (23), India
(20) and Australia (18).

Apparel, media, technology and healthcare companies led the way on the
list, it added.

Commenting on the list for the Sept 21 issue of Forbes Asia, writer Jack
Gage said there were many survival stories in these 200 top companies whose
lessons other entrepreneurs could learn.

Gage said unprecedented dislocations in the global economy disrupted supply
chains over the past 12 months, froze lines of credit, depleted consumer coffers
and sent business spending into hibernation.

"The 64 companies returning from last year are a testament to fearless
management and 136 new entrants have seized opportunities arising from the
economic uncertainty," he said.

The 200 winning companies will be honoured at the Forbes Asia's "Best Under
A Billion" award ceremony here on Nov 11, 2009.
-- BERNAMA