The Edge Malaysia Centurion Club Corporate Awards, the brainchild of The Edge Media Group chairman Tan Sri Tong Kooi Ong that was introduced in 2019, was forced to take a two-year hiatus right after its inaugural year as the Covid-19 pandemic swept over the world.

Its return this year is not just a celebration of companies that achieved outstanding business performance — difficult as it is under normal circumstances — but also a tribute to those that are truly the toughest and grittiest among our public-listed mid-caps.

This is the common sentiment shared by many of us who were involved in preparing for the event, from the computation of the results based on measurable metrics — profit, share price, return on equity — to the writing of the stories of the winners in this special pullout.

Hence, I felt it was most apt that when congratulating the winners, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, our guest of honour, likened them to “warriors” who have fought and triumphed over one of the most challenging operating environments in the last two years that was brought about by the pandemic.

Not forgetting too, the devastating effects of the December floods that wreaked havoc across a big part of our country last year.

The minister’s remarks, and each of the winners’ stories in this pullout, remind me of the words of German aviator Dieter F Uchtdorf, that, “It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.”

As at March 31 this year, there were 488 Centurion Club members — 65 more than the 423 members in its inaugural year of 2019. Companies that qualify for inclusion in the Centurion Club must be listed on Bursa Malaysia as at end-March of the current calendar year, must not be suspended or under Bursa’s watch list, and must not be delisted before the date of the awards. They must also have a market capitalisation of at least RM100 million but less than RM1 billion.

These 488 members, with an estimated collective market cap of RM160.9 billion, made an estimated net profit of RM8.24 billion for the financial year 2021 (FY2021) — excluding AirAsia X Bhd’s performance — a remarkable recovery from the RM5.59 billion worth of estimated losses they incurred in FY2020, when the nation was forced into the first of its various movement restrictions to counter the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak here.

Ng Thin Poh, executive chairman-cum-CEO of Samchem Holdings Bhd — our Centurion of the Year, which also bagged the sectoral award of Highest Growth in Profit After Tax Over Three Years for the industrial products and services sector — told me that the awards Samchem won were “truly unexpected” and that they would be a source of inspiration for his company.

I hope every winner of these “one-of-a-kind awards that serve as a platform to support and give recognition to businesses across various industries” — as our main sponsor CIMB Group Holdings Bhd described them — feels the same. On that note, congratulations once again to all the winners!