Telcos talk down profits

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Albeit reporting impressive 26.6 per cent revenue and 22.9 per cent profit hike in 2011’s financial year, the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) just posted VND1.465 trillion ($546 million) revenue and VND1.205 trillion ($57.3 million) pretax profit in the first six months of 2012.

Its six-month revenue dropped VND825 billion ($39.2 million) and pre-tax profit added VND1 billion ($47,600) on-year, tantamount to 36.6 per cent and 40.1 per cent of full-year revenue and profit targets respectively. With such performance, the telco could hardly achieve its 2012 set targets.

From now until end of 2012, FPT will step up telecom services, software export and digital content segments and keep close eyes on distribution market, according to the company’s executive board.

CMC Technology Group is in a similar position. In 2011 fiscal year from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012 the company incurred VND101 million ($4.8 million) losses and could not get rid of its gloomy financial picture in 2012 financial year’s first quarter (from April 1 to June 30).

Accordingly, its net revenue just amounted to VND60.9 billion ($2.9 million) in the first quarter, down 41 per cent and aggregated profits reached VND13 billion ($619,000), down 2 per cent on-year.

The parent company’s declining accrued profits against the same period last year derived from the fact that it did not get the interests rendered by member companies as in the previous years. Last year, member companies transferred VND61 billion ($2.9 million) profits to the parent company, said CMC’s general director Nguyen Trung Chinh.

Like CMC, HIPT Group witnessed plummeting revenue and profit figures in 2011. HIPT’s downward momentum lingered in 2012’s first half.

The company’s first six-month net revenue from sales and services provision slid 10 per cent on-year to VND109.8 billion ($5.2 million) and total profits contracted over VND1 billion ($47,600).

Besides, on August 2 HIPT declared it had wrapped up the deal of selling HIPT Mobile to distribution firm Hanoi Belico. The transaction amount was withheld by the firm but it would not be large since HIPT Mobile incurred loses of VND11.5 billion ($547,000) in 2011’s fiscal year.

FPT chairman Truong Gia Binh assumed in current context of economic uncertainties firms should not wait for life pontoons but striving to rescue themselves.