Vietnam's 500 most profitable firms for 2023 unveiled

Alongside PetroVietnam and Samsung, several other household names dominated the charts, such as Viettel, Vietcombank, Techcombank, BIDV, MB, Agribank, and VPBank.

Among the private enterprises featured were notable high performers like Techcombank, VPBank, ACB, Vingroup, VIB, Vinamilk, HDBank, Hoa Phat, SHB, and TPBank.

Despite not reaching their pre-pandemic heights, there has been a marked improvement since 2022. The average return on assets (ROA) of these 500 enterprises saw growth across all three sectors. The foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) led the pack with an impressive 13.7 per cent, registering the most substantial surge of 2.7 per cent.

Their growth stands as testament to the stability of their business and their ability to derive profit from assets. Meanwhile, the private and state-owned businesses followed suit, recording respective ROAs of 11.2 per cent and 9.2 per cent.

2023 also witnessed a noteworthy shift in the average return on equity. FIEs and the private sector experienced robust growth rates of 4.6 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively from the previous year, the highest in the last five years.

State-owned enterprises, despite witnessing an increase from 16.5 per cent to 17.2 per cent, showed modest recovery when compared to their counterparts.

A prevailing stagnation impacted numerous sectors, eroding business resilience and substantially thinning profit margins. The survey unveiled that fewer businesses maintained their growth momentum in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. Presently, as two-thirds of the year has elapsed, less than half of the enterprises have achieved over 50 per cent of their profit targets - 40.9 per cent to be precise, a sharp decline from 73.9 per cent a year ago.

However, Vietnam Report is cautiously optimistic. With the global conversation gradually is shifting from 'recession' to a 'soft landing', indicators hint at a less bleak outlook for Vietnam's economy, signalling a potential pathway to recovery. Yet, the pace of this transition remains sluggish due to persistent challenges and lingering complications.

The research suggests that recovery will vary across sectors and businesses, depending on specific circumstances. Almost 55 per cent of businesses anticipate a mild profit improvement for the latter half of the year, while 4.5 per cent expect no change. 41 per cent predict an agonisingly slow recovery, potentially with short-term declines.

"Given the current backdrop, the profit landscape in the coming months will continue to grapple with headwinds faced in the first half," commented Vietnam Report.

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