Singapore Airlines (SIA) further strengthened its reputation as a company of sound financial standing when it emerged tops in FinanceAsia’s survey of Asia’s Best Companies 2002.

In the survey published in the April issue of FinanceAsia, SIA took the top Singapore spot for Best Managed Company, Best At Investor Relations, and Strongest Commitment To Enhancing Shareholder Value for the second year running.

SIA also emerged tops for Best Financial Management, and was the runner-up for Company Most Committed To Corporate Governance.

The methodology used for the 2002 survey is different from last year’s as this year’s was focused on investors, rather than a readership poll. The survey also asked for three nominations in five categories, and did not include a list of companies, thus eliminating any bias towards a particular company or companies.

According to FinanceAsia, investors polled attributed SIA’s strong standing in the survey to its “professionalism in handling queries”, “dynamic corporate culture and excellent business sense” as well as “conservative debt management”.

SIA’s Senior Vice-President Finance and Administration, Teoh Tee Hooi, expressed his delight at the results of the survey, “It is an honour that investors hold SIA in high regard and have voted us ahead of other Singapore companies. We will continue to strive to uphold SIA’s reputation as a well-managed company.”

Last month, Forbes Magazine released its annual list of The World’s Best Companies. SIA made the list and is one of ten “travel and transport” firms to achieve this ranking. To qualify for inclusion, companies must have $5 billion in sales or market capitalization. They are then subjected to a rigorous performance evaluation, consisting of an equal-weighting of five-year return on equity, five-year revenue growth, 52-week stock performance and 2002 consensus earning forecast.
SIA also garnered some awards on the product and services front recently.

In April 2002, readers of Global Finance ranked SIA as the Best Global Airline and Best Airline Asia-Pacific in its first ever ranking of the world’s airlines for business travellers. 10,000 readers polled in the survey included chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers, and other financial officers responsible for making investments and strategic business decisions for global companies and financial institutions.

In the same month, SIA won the Golden Travel Star Award 2002 for the ninth consecutive year. The prestigious award was sponsored by Travel Inside - a Swiss travel trade magazine. Travel agents polled in the survey were asked to rate airlines according to product quality and service.

In March 2002, SIA took the award of Best Long Haul First Class in Skytrax Research’s (UK) Airline of the Year 2002 survey. Survey data was gathered through online customer surveys, corporate travel questionnaires and onboard/ airport consumer interviews.

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