Westports Holdings Bhd executive chairman G Gnanalingam has been named this year’s Value Creator.

AirAsia Bhd group chief executive officer (CEO) Tony Fernandes was quoted by The Edge Financial Daily today as saying he was “super proud” of the budget airline, after the company won the award.

“Super proud. The Edge, a newspaper I super respect, has just named AirAsia as Company of the Year,” Fernandes said via Facebook today.

The awards were presented at a gala dinner here yesterday. AirAsia was among 56 companies that won a total of 81 company awards which aim to recognise the performance of Malaysia’s biggest listed companies in terms of highest profit growth, return on equity and total shareholder returns (capital gains plus yield) over three years.

AirAsia co-founder and executive chairman Kamarudin Meranun received the award from The Edge Media Group publisher and CEO Ho Kay Tat. Westports CEO Ruben Gnanalingam accepted the award on his father’s behalf.

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) won a special award for being the first Bursa Malaysia-listed company to reach RM100 billion market capitalisation, while Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd won a special award for the public service done by its production of the 2016 movie Ola Bola.