HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s stock market has 23 companies valued at over US$1 billion and most of them have reported higher business results in the first half of this year.

Vinamilk (VNM), the biggest listed firm, is also the most profitable company with the six-month profit of nearly VNĐ5.9 trillion ($258 million), up 18 per cent over the same period of last year.

In the first half, Vinamilk’s turnovers from overseas markets shrank from 19 per cent last year to only 15 per cent this year, but takings from the domestic market rose by 10 per cent, owing to heavy spending on advertisement worth around VNĐ396 billion.

In terms of revenue, petrol retailer Petrolimex (PLX) was on the top of the list with over VNĐ74 trillion, up 26 per cent year-on-year. Revenue growth was attributable to increases in global oil prices averaging at 25.6 per cent in the first six months of this year.

However, due to a higher cost price and rising financial expenses, including exchange losses, Petrolimex’s profits declined 12 per cent year-on-year to just VNĐ1.8 trillion.

Bank dominance

Seven of the nine listed banks have market cap of over $1 billion but their profits accounted for nearly 40 per cent of total earnings of 23 largest listed businesses.

The profit growth of the banking sector averaged 30 per cent in the first six months while that of the non-banking groups was only 3 per cent.

Vietcombank (VCB), the biggest listed lender with a market cap of $6.1 billion, reported the highest profit of VNĐ4.2 trillion on revenues of VNĐ15 trillion in the first half, up 23 per cent in profit and 19 per cent in revenue over the same period of last year.

Vietinbank (CTG) and BIDV (BID) ranked second and third in terms of profits. Vietinbank posted first-half profit of VNĐ3.9 trillion and revenue of VNĐ16 trillion, up 15 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively.

BID’s turnover rose 24 per cent to nearly VNĐ16.8 trillion but its net profit edged up just 2 per cent to over VNĐ2.7 trillion.

Non-State commercial banks including Military Bank (MBB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), VPBank (VPB) and Sacombank (STB) reported higher growth of over 50 per cent, of which Sacombank’s profit shot from just VNĐ309 billion in 2016’s first half to VNĐ422 billion in the first six months of this year.

Profit of VPBank also doubled to VNĐ2.6 trillion in the reporting period.

Slack businesses

Only four companies reported slower sales but up to eight companies saw a decrease in profits in the first six months.

Turnovers of Masan Group (MSN) and its consumer arm Masan Consumer (MSN) dropped by 6 per cent while their net profits plummeted 56 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively.

Masan Group’s slowing businesses were mainly driven by drops in Masan Consumer whose food and beverage revenues decreased 13.4 per cent and in Masan Nutri-Science caused by falling retail pig prices of 34-40 per cent.

Two businesses in aviation also saw their profits slide substantially.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (HVN) reported net profit of VNĐ766 billion, down 54 per cent year-on-year, attributed to the rise in petrol prices of 37 per cent over the same period of last year. Meanwhile, profit of Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) dropped by 16 per cent to nearly VNĐ2.1 trillion.

Other companies reporting slower profit growth included Petrolimex, Sabeco, FLC Faros Construction and real estate developer Novaland Investment Group. — VNS