IT was the year for property and construction in 2006, if LEK's data is anything to go by.
The top 10 list of companies with the best total shareholder returns for 2006 are dominated by firms from the property and construction sectors.
According to LEK Consulting's analysis, among the best performers across all four TSR time periods - one, three, five and 10 years - half are from the property and construction sectors, although the largest (in terms of market capitalisation) came from the transport sector.
Of the 10, shipyard and shipping group Cosco Corp had the largest market capitalisation for the best-performing players, while HLG Enterprise - formerly LKN-Primefield - was the smallest.
Wheelock Properties - which took the overall top spot - had the highest returns on a one-year basis with a TSR of 283.9 per cent, while HLG Enterprise had the second highest returns at 240 per cent.
Wheelock Properties also took top spot on a three-year basis, with a TSR of 111.1 per cent, followed closely by Raffles Education at 111 per cent and Cosco Corp - which was ranked second overall - with a TSR of 110.5 per cent.
Cosco Corp also took first place on a 10-year time-frame, with a TSR of 35.4 per cent. The company was also the only one which had made it to the top performers' list for the last three years.
Jardine Strategic Holdings and Dairy Farm International, which had been in the top performers' list in the previous two years, did not make the cut this year.
At the other end of the spectrum, the worst TSR performers were almost entirely small-capitalisation companies, with only one - Time Watch Investments - registering a market cap above $100 million.
'For companies that possess TSRs across all four time horizons, small caps seem to be the most problematic,' said Sharad Apte, managing director for LEK's South-east Asia practice.
Doormaker Chuan Soon Huat Industrial Group was ranked as the worst performer. It had negative TSRs for all four time periods, and the lowest one-year TSR at a negative 78.9 per cent.
On a three-year basis, Informatics Holdings had the lowest TSR at a negative 57.2 per cent, while component and contract manufacturer Amplefield registered the lowest TSR for the five-year period, at minus 51.1 per cent.
Interra Resources, which deals in petroleum exploration and production, was at the bottom of the 10-year list, with a TSR of negative 40 per cent.
Of this year's list, only one - Tri-M Technologies - has been consistently in the worst performing group for the last three years.
