Beating the pandemic odds

Tina Arceo-Dumlao @tinaarceodumlao


Challenges are an inextricable part of the business landscape and corporations are judged according to how well—or how badly—they respond to them.

And by far the biggest challenge that confronted local companies and the executives who lead them in recent years is the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the government to impose varying levels of mobility restrictions to contain the disease spread. 

These painful but necessary steps consequently froze economic activity for long stretches and shuttered thousands of micro, small and medium enterprises. 

Yet despite the unprecedented public health and economic crises caused by the virus outbreak—the worst catastrophe to hit the Philippines since World War II—a number have managed to not just survive, but even thrive. 

This report is part of the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s thrust to champion Filipinos and tell their story, this time of growth despite adversity. 

  Name City Category Absolute growth rate [in %]Avg Y to Y growth Revenue 2020 [in ₱m] Revenue 2017 [in ₱m] Number of employees 2020 Founding Year
1 Great Deals E-Commerce Corp. Quezon City Commerce and Shopping 30,135.8 571.2 4,405 15 385 2017
2 INTELUCK Makati City Internet Services 4,587.4 260.6 350 7 108 2014
3 Stylist in Pocket Technologies, Inc. Manila Clothing and Apparel 1,433.1 148.4 77 5 43 2016
4 First Circle Taguig City Financial Services 1,042.4 125.2 279 24 108 2016
5 BUSYBEE Quezon City Information Technology 599.9 91.3 40 6 20 2012
6 Converge Angeles Messaging and Telecommunications 432.4 74.6 15,652 2,940 3,006 2007
7 Sprout Solutions Taguig Information Technology 394.8 70.4 195 39 189 2011
8 Penbrothers Makati City Support Services 344.2 64.4 526 118 592 2014
9 KMC Solutions Taguig City Support Services 197.7 43.9 3,620 1,216 2,164 2010
10 Mercantile Insurance Manila Financial Services 196.7 43.7 1,874 632 319 1962
11 ZAP Pasig City Loyalty & Rewards Program 158.0 37.2 42 16 32 2012
12 D&V Philippines Makati City Business Process Outsourcing 106.2 27.3 354 171 352 2012
13 PT&T Makati City Internet Services 103.3 26.7 408 201 232 1962
14 CHSI Pasig City Health Care 102.5 26.5 282 139 554 2005
15 Security Bank Makati City Financial Services 100.8 26.2 50,373 25,085 6,833 1951
16 Clixlogic Quezon City Information Technology 94.5 24.8 99 51 46 2005
17 PHINMA Makati City Construction 91.6 24.2 12,302 6,419 3,231 1956
18 STA. LUCIA Cainta Real Estate 88.8 23.6 5,918 3,135 160 2007
19 Sourcefit Quezon City Business Process Outsourcing 87.3 23.3 404 216 712 2006
20 China Bank Makati City Financial Services 70.5 19.5 43,854 25,728 9,825 1920
21 BDO Unibank Makati City Financial Services 46.5 13.6 189 129 38,756 1967
22 Century Pacific Food, Inc. Pasig City Manufacturing 40.0 11.9 48,302 34,496 17,896 1978
23 Nat Re Makati City Financial Services 35.3 10.6 3,197 2,364 67 1978
24 Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. Pasig City Commerce and Shopping 31.1 9.4 151,070 115,238 18,555 1980
25 PRYCE Makati City Energy 26.9 8.3 11,709 9,227 5,179 1989

Methodology The Philippines’ Growth Champions 2022

The Philippines’ Growth Champions 2022 is a list of the Top 25 companies in the Philippines that have achieved the highest percentage growth in revenues between 2017 and 2020.

Application phase

The project was advertised online and in print, allowing all eligible companies to register via the website created by Statista and the Philippine Daily Inquirer. In addition, through research in company databases and other public sources Statista has identified hundreds of companies in the Philippines as potential candidates for the growth ranking. These companies were invited to participate in the competition by email, Linkedin and telephone.

The application phase ran from 1st August 2021 to 31 January  2022. The submitted revenue figures had to be certified by the CFO, CEO or a member of the Executive Committee of the company.

Criteria for inclusion in the list

To be included in the list of the Philippines’ Growth Champions, a company had to meet the following criteria:

-          Revenue of at least ₱5,000,000 generated in 2017

-          Revenue of at least ₱30,000,000 generated in 2020

-          The company is independent (acts largely independently in its business decisions and does not receive significant sales from parent or related companies)

-          The company is headquartered in the Philippines

-          The revenue growth between 2017 and 2020 was primarily organic (i.e. "internally" stimulated)

Calculation of CAGR

The calculation of company growth rates is based on the revenue figures submitted by the companies.

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was calculated as follows:

Evaluation and quality assurance

All data reported by the companies was processed and checked by Statista. Missing data entries (employee numbers, address data, etc.) were researched in detail. Companies that did not fulfill the criteria for inclusion in the ranking were deleted.

The ranking of the Philippines’ Growth Champions was created through a complex procedure. Although the search was very extensive, the ranking does not claim to be complete, as some companies did not want to make their figures public or did not participate for other reasons.

Disclaimer

The ranking of the Philippines’ Growth Champions was created through a complex procedure. Although the search was very extensive, the ranking does not claim to be complete, as some companies did not want to make their figures public or did not participate for other reasons.

Special Report released in Philippine Daily Inquirer

Below are the images from the 8-pager supplement of Philippine Daily Inquirer, released on March 11, 2022: