Listed firms report performance in Q1

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
A slew of listed firms recently announced their performance in the first quarter of 2008 with both profit and big losses from business, typically Tan Tien Plastic Packing Joint Stock Co (coded TTP) posted a pre-tax profit of nine billion dong, falling by 24.8% against the figure of 11.9 billion dong in the last quarter of 2007 due to a sudden increase in prices of input materials for production.

Similarly, Saigon Telecommunication and Technology Joint Stock Co (coded SGT) also showed the after-tax profit only equalling to 74.91% of the previous quarter because the business of some northern branches and office is seasonal. In addition, a surge in prices of several materials for business and production led to a sharp drop in profit and the ratio of profit on revenue.

As for Taicera Ceramic and Porcelain Industry Joint Stock Co (coded TCR), its pre-tax profit in Jan-March declined by 34.68% against the fourth quarter of last year due to a reduction in revenue after the Tet Holiday and large costs for maintaining equipments, changes in US dollar/dong forex rate.

Meanwhile, Tan Binh Culture Joint Stock Co (coded ALT) in the period posted an after-tax profit of 2.9 billion dong, down 39.3% from the last year end due to a sharp fall in the company's other profits that were recorded at 3.3 billion dong in Q4 of 2007 and only 285.6 million dong in Q1 of 2008.

In Q1, the listed firm Engineering and Construction Joint Stock Co No 1 (coded CMC) reached 12.3 billion dong in total revenue and 1.07 billion dong in after-tax profit against 54 billion dong and 8.4 billion dong in the last quarter of 2007.

A seafood processor's general director said that the price of materials rose 15-20% whereas product price only surged only 10% at most, excluding effects caused by costs for salary, corporate administration and bank debt interest rate. Therefore, a reduction in profit in Q1 is avoidable.

Conversely, there were some listed firms keeping their high growth rate in the period. Particularly, Vietnam-Italy Steel JSC (coded VIS) reported 618.5 billion dong in net revenue, up 15.8% from Q4 of 2007 and 10.7 billion dong in after-tax profit, up 78%. The company said that the performance is thanks to a 15% increase in output and a fall of nearly 1.2 billion dong in fixed costs such as discount cost, cost for long-term bank loans. Additionally, the firm imported 46,863 tonnes of steel billet with the average price of 11.2 million dong a tonne while the selling price of steel product was averaged at 13.9 million dong a tonne. Similarly, Bien Hoa Sugar and Sugarcane Joint Stock Co (coded BHS) also announced the after-tax profit of 10.5 billion dong in Q1, growing by 49.38% against Q4 of 2007. Saigon Maritime JSC posted a total revenue of over 37 billion dong, up 83% yoy and a 430% growth in profit thanks to the 14 billion dong contract of leasing SHC Pioneer ship.

In particular, commercial banks recently suffered many affects from the economy and the financial market, however business results of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (coded SBT) in Q1 were good with pre-tax profit of 435 billion dong (equalling to the figure in Q4 2007), rising 44% year-on-year, total asset of 75,205 trillion dong, increasing 135% yoy. Followed by Asia Commercial Bank, its total asset in Q1 was estimated at 100 trillion dong while total deposits were 81 trillion dong, total outstanding loans reached over 40 trillion dong and pre-tax profit posted at 501 billion dong. As compared with the same period of last year, ACB's total asset increased two fold, total deposits up 1.8 times and pre-tax profit grew by 1.2 times.

Operation result of a quarter has not reflected business of an enterprise in a financial year exactly. But, this is also the important base for investors to refer in advance before offering investment decisions. Notably, according to specialists, general difficulties of the economy will really impact to operation of enterprises in coming months.

Most recently, Vietnam Association for Finance Investors (VAFI) proposed some measures to stabilise the stock market, in which listed firms were required to soon report their own business results with revenue and profit targets in order to avoid price speculation.