Malaysian SMEs a resilient lot

The domestic small and medium enterprise (SME) sector has proven its resilience during the recent global financial crisis by registering consistent double-digit quarterly growth, SME Corp Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Hafsah Hashim said.

She said SME Corp’s quarterly survey on the local SMEs revealed that the average growth of the sector in the first nine months this year is about 17 per cent.

The first quarter saw the sector registering 13 per cent growth in sales, followed by 20.9 per cent and 16.7 per cent growth in the second and third quarter, respectively.

“We would expect the full-year growth to hover around 15 to 17 per cent,” she said after announcing the top 10 companies in the Enterprise 50 (E50) Award 2010 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Also present were SME Corp chairman Datuk Dr Mohamed Al Amin Abd Majid and Deloitte Consulting Malaysia managing director Datuk Azman Mohd Zain.

Every year, E50 recognises 50 high potential Malaysian SMEs that are well-positioned for the future, while at the same time, promote greater excellence among local enterprises.

The programme, which is now in its 14th year, has received 107 nominations from various industries. These companies have a combined net turnover of RM783.5 million, about a third more than the RM597.2 million combined sales of 95 companies participated in last year’s E50.

If the previous years saw highest nomination coming from the manufacturing sector, this year’s programme has seen a greater participation from other sectors.

“For the first time this year, 21 per cent of nominations are from the wholesale or distribution and sales sector, which normally hovered about 3 per cent previously,” Mohamed Al Amin said.

Participation from the manufacturing sector had dropped to 37 per cent from 63 per cent, he added.
Azman said the E50 programme serves as an excellent platform for Malaysian SMEs to develop their potential and grow to become as good as their global counterparts.

“These awards highlight the importance of recognising SMEs as engines of growth for the Malaysian economy, and the high calibre of the winning SMEs demonstrates their competitive strength in this sector,” he said.

The 50 winners were selected based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. During the quantitative analysis, focus was placed on the company’s financial performance, particularly on their liquidity and leverage ratios.

Qualitative aspects such as internal and external strategy, asset efficiency, expectations, and resource alignment were evaluated.

Once the scores were tabulated, the results were presented to an independent panel of judges who finalised the ranking.
For this year, Swift Energy Sdn Bhd ranked first, followed by SNS Network (M) Sdn Bhd and iDimension MSC Sdn Bhd. Others in the top 10 are Natural Health Farm Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd, Amlex Technology Sdn Bhd, UTS Technology Sdn Bhd, Myagri Eco-Biosciences Sdn Bhd, White Café Sdn Bhd, Gunung Rapat Hiong Piah Sdn Bhd and Cliff Ink Sdn Bhd.

This year’s E50 is jointly organised by SME Corp and Deloitte Malaysia, with the support from RHB Bank Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Celcom Axiata Bhd, Business Times, Media Prima Bhd and Malaysia SME.