Vietnam Report publishes list of most 500 profitable companies in 2023

Among the companies, the ten on top comprise PetroVietnam, Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen, Viettel, Vietcombank, Techcombank, PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corp, BIDV, Military Bank, Agribank, and VP Bank.

The ten most profitable private companies, meanwhile, consist of Techcombank, VP Bank, ACB, VinGroup, VIB, Vinamilk, HD Bank, Hoa Phat, SHB, and TP Bank. 

Foreign direct investment companies maintained the lead in terms of return on assets (ROA) with 13.7%, up 2.7% year-by-year. Companies operating in the private sector came next with 11.2% and were followed by those in the public sector (9.2%).

About one-third of companies on PROFIT500 expected economic growth of between 4.5% and 5% for the year 2023. Merely 4.5% anticipated that growth would surpass 5.5% whereas 13.6% forecasted it would be less than 4%.

More than half of the companies believed that their profits would improve slightly against the first six months of the year, 4.5% forecasted their profits would stay flat, and 40.9% thought otherwise. 

Approximately three-fourths of the companies cited weakening demand and global uncertainties as the biggest issues holding them back. Other issues include rising input costs, high inflation in large importing countries, and challenges in the realty and corporate bond markets.

"Falling orders and weak market demand have led to higher unsold inventory, putting a lot of pressure on firms' production plans," said Vietnam Report.

Vietnam Report showed that companies were pinning their hopes on supportive policies from the Government, which are expected to create a low-interest environment conducive to their operation. 

Nearly 60% cited cuts in bank lending rates as the driving force behind their profit growth in the second half of the year. Exactly 54.5% relied on cuts in value-added tax whereas 27.3% ticked "the acceleration of public money disbursement".

Vietnam Report also underlined seven key measures to boost profits in the last six months of 2023. Among the measures, expanding into new markets was employed by over 80% of the companies. Enhancing customer services came next with 77.3%, and then seeking new suppliers with about 75%.

It is also worth noting that at the time of the survey, merely 41% of the companies said they had reached over 50% of their profit targets for 2023, lower than the figure of the same time last year (73.9%).