KUALA LUMPUR (March 10): As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.

The Edge weekly in its latest edition said this could not be truer for a number of Bursa Malaysia-listed companies that saw better earnings last year, in line with the country’s impressive economic performance.

In its cover story, the Edge’s Supriya Surendran wrote that although the Malaysian economy slowed in 2015 (5%) and 2016 (4.2%) after delivering 6% in 2014, its gross domestic product growth of 5.9% last year would still have been the envy of many.

The weekly said Malaysia faced several challenges in 2016, including lower oil revenue as a result of a slump in crude oil prices, slowing global growth and problems with strategic investment firm 1Malaysia Development Bhd, which reportedly spooked foreign investors, leading to a weakening of the ringgit against the US dollar.

It explained that the oil and gas industry had to adjust to a “new reality” of low oil prices with Brent crude, which was trading at around US$114 per barrel in mid-2014, collapsing to around US$27 in January 2016. This harsh situation saw national oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd slashing its capital and operating expenditure by RM50 billion for the 2016 to 2020 period.

Corporations had to step up to the plate when the economy slowed — operations-wise, cost-optimisation efforts had to be undertaken and as with any slowdown, there were impairment and asset write-downs to reflect prevailing economic conditions, said the Edge.

On top of that, a weak ringgit resulted in foreign exchange losses on the books of importers as well as companies with international operations, it said.

However, things started to look up for the Malaysian economy last year as the ringgit reversed its decline to become one of the strongest currencies in Asia, Brent crude recovered to an average of US$54 per barrel from US$44 in 2016 and exports grew 18.9%, the strongest since 2005.

Bloomberg data tracking the trailing 12-month performance of 877 companies listed on the Main and ACE markets of Bursa last year showed that 447 or 51% of them had performed better (including lower losses for unprofitable companies) while the rest of them deteriorated.

For an in-depth analysis of the top earners on Bursa Malaysia in 2017, read the Edge for the week of March 12 – March 18 available at newsstands now.

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