The Boston Globe Unveils the Best Performing Massachusetts Companies in Annual Globe 100 Magazine

The Boston Globe’s annual Globe 100 magazine, an exclusive ranking of the best performing public companies based in Massachusetts, will be published tomorrow in The Boston Globe and on Boston.com. Framingham-based apparel giant TJX Cos. received top honors for its 2009 financial performance.

This year’s 52-page Globe 100 vividly illustrates the effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. For the first time in 22 years, fewer than 100 companies qualified for the list. Due to the effects of the recession only 82 companies are in the Globe 100, which requires two consecutive years of profitable performance.

TJX Cos., whose retail stores include TJ Maxx and Marshalls, claimed the number one ranking and, in the process, set a record: 21 appearances on the Globe 100 since the list was first published in 1989. In 2009, TJX successfully outmaneuvered the recession and increased profits by 29% by expanding into the downturn, adding stores in the U.S. and abroad, and capitalizing on consumer demand for inexpensive apparel.

The top five companies included businesses from the state’s world-renowned technology, life sciences and biotech, and finance industries. They were Raytheon (#2); VisaPrint LTD (#3), Biogen Idec (#4), and Hanover Insurance Group (#5), which boasted a one-year profit gain of 805 percent.

"In these challenging times, all 82 companies that earned places on The Globe 100 deserve special congratulations,” said Ms. Leung. "These companies displayed the foresight necessary to be successful in a very difficult economic climate. The 2009 recession challenged every business in our state. The list reflects the absolute best of Massachusetts business -- from biotech and technology to retail and finance."

As part of the Globe 100, business editor Shirley Leung conducted an economic roundtable exclusively featuring female top executives from Massachusetts companies: Agnes Bundy Scanlan, chief regulatory officer at TD Bank; Joanna Lau, the founder and chief executive of Lau Technologies; and Stephanie Sonnabend, chief executive of Sonesta International Hotels Corp. In a no-holds-barred exchange, these high-powered executives reveal the dynamics of the economic turnaround, the challenges that still face all Massachusetts companies, and the special challenge of ensuring true diversity in the boardrooms of the state’s most significant businesses.

This year’s Globe 100 Magazine also celebrates Massachusetts companies that have made the "Century Club” – those that have survived and thrived for at least 100 years. In addition, the Globe looks at the companies with the most creative and effective green initiatives, as well as the can’t-miss, must-have gadgets necessary for every road warrior.

The Globe 100 Web site (boston.com/globe100) features all of the magazine’s coverage, along with exclusive video from inside the best companies, interactive photo galleries and charts, and multimedia presentations.

About the Globe 100 ranking methodology

The Globe 100 ranks Massachusetts-based public companies based on financial data from the four quarters ending closest to December 31, 2009, and for corresponding quarters a year earlier. To be eligible, the company must be traded publicly for the entire 2009 calendar year on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq or the American Stock Exchange and report revenue and profit for both 2008 and 2009. Companies are ranked on four criteria: return on average equity, one-year percentage change in revenue, one-year percentage change in profit margin and 2009 revenue.

About The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe and Boston.com are wholly owned by The New York Times Company, a leading media company with 2009 revenues of $2.4 billion, which includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.