S&P Publishes Annual List of Midsize Companies Expected to Emerge as Challengers...

S&P Publishes Annual List of Midsize Companies Expected to Emerge as
Challengers to the World's Leading Blue Chips
S&P Global Challengers Class of 2008 Spans 33 Countries

NEW YORK, July 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's, the world's leading
index provider, published today its annual list of 300 mid-size companies that
are expected to emerge as challengers to the world's leading blue chip
companies. Designated the S&P Global Challengers, the list is comprised of
those publicly traded companies that show the highest growth characteristics
along dimensions encompassing intrinsic and extrinsic growth. Standard &
Poor's publishes the list yearly, and tracks its performance through annual
publications.
The S&P Global Challengers List is based upon a robust methodology that
applies consistent standards to multiple countries. The attributes used to
identify the companies are share price appreciation, sales growth, earnings
growth and employee growth. The 2008 class of S&P Global Challengers has
representation from 33 countries and 9 sectors.
The S&P Global Challengers List is Standard & Poor's response to needs of
consultants and marketers analyzing global growth trends or seeking client
engagement opportunities, strategy formulators assessing future partners or
competitors, and product providers structuring investment vehicles that offer
exposure to fast growing mid size companies.
In the Class of 2008, the countries contributing the most members are
China (76), the United States (73) and Hong Kong (14). China and Hong Kong are
evaluated separately to account for different reporting currencies.
Regionally, Asia/Pacific comprises 39% of the S&P Global Challengers List, the
Americas 29.33%, Europe 30% and the Middle East/Africa 1.67%. Among sectors,
Industrials was the biggest contributor with 81 companies.
A paper outlining the structure, methodology, and constituents of the S&P
Global Challengers List can be found by accessing
www.standardandpoors.com/indices, and clicking on "publications." The paper
also tracks the S&P Global Challengers Class of 2003 five years later, finding
significant growth in market capitalization, earnings, sales and employees.
About Standard & Poor's Index Services
Standard & Poor's Index Services, the world's leading index provider,
maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array
of investor needs. Its family of indices includes the S&P 500, an index with
$1.5 trillion invested and $4.85 trillion benchmarked, and the S&P Global
1200, a composite index comprised of seven regional and country headline
indices. For more information, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.
About Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is
the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including
independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and
data. With approximately 8,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates,
located in 23 countries and markets, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of
the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more
than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they
need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions.
For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com.
SOURCE Standard & Poor's

David Guarino Standard & Poor's Communications 212-438-1471
dave_guarino@standardandpoors.com