Agri major Loc Troi turns loss into record high profit, Vinafood 2 profit up 2 times

Agricultural services and food majors Loc Troi JSC and Vinafood 2 posted a remarkable profit in the second quarter of the year, while their peers Trung An Rice and An Giang Import-Export incurred a loss.

Loc Troi JSC reaped a record high profit of nearly VND425 billion ($17.9 million) in Q2, while it incurred a loss of VND44 billion ($1.85 million) in the same period last year. The firm recorded Q2 net revenues of VND3.68 trillion ($154.9 million), up 4% year-on-year.

In the first six months of the year, Loc Troi earned net revenues of VND6.13 trillion ($258.2 million) and after-tax profits of VND343 billion ($14.4 million), up 4% and 2.4 times, respectively.

As of June 30, its assets stood at VND12.18 trillion ($513.1 million), up 39% compared to the beginning of the year, with short-term assets valued at VND9.26 trillion ($390 million), up 47% .

Loc Troi, registered on the unlisted public company market as LTG, is targeting an after-tax profit of VND400 billion ($17 million) in 2023, up 3% year-on-year.

The firm has 23 subsidiaries and one associate company. Production and trade in rice and other food products accounted for 54% of its revenue in 2022, while production of plant protection drugs made up 37%.

The LTG share closed Monday at VND39,700 ($1.67).

Meanwhile, leading rice exporter Vietnam Southern Food Corp. (Vinafood 2) recorded Q2 net revenues of VND6.87 trillion ($289.2 million), up 57% year-on-year, and after-tax profits of VND9.4 billion ($395,900), up 2 times year-on-year.

In the first half of 2023, Vinafood 2 posted net revenues of VND11.34 trillion ($477.5 million), up 58%; and after-tax profit of nearly VND10 billion ($421,200), up 2 times year-on-year.

As of June 30, Vinafood 2 had total assets of nearly VND8.84 trillion ($372.4 million), with inventories of VND2.98 trillion ($125.4 million), up 2.6 times compared to the beginning of the year.

This year, Vinafood 2 has set a revenue target of VND8.7 trillion ($366.4 million) and a pre-tax profit target of VND2.5 billion ($105,300).

Vinafood 2, registed on the unlisted public company market UPCoM as VSF, closed Monday at VND32,700 ($1.38) per share.

In contrast, Trung An High-Tech Agriculture JSC (Trung An Rice) reported Q2 revenues of VND1.62 trillion ($68 million), up 111% year-on-year, but made a loss of VND8 billion ($336,900) for the first time since it was listed on the stocks exchange in early 2019.

Trung An Rice attributed its poor Q2 showing to high interest costs and the dumping of damaged goods delivered to foreign customers.

In the first six months of 2023, Trung An Rice posted net revenues of VND2.51 trillion ($105.8 million) and after-tax profits of VND600 million ($25,300), down 46% and 99% respectively.

At the end of Q2, Trung An Rice's assets were valued at VND2.75 trillion ($115.9 million), with inventories at VND679 billion ($28.6 million), down 52%.

In 2023, Trung An Rice expects revenues of VND3.8 trillion ($161.97 million), flat compared to 2022, and after-tax profits of VND110 billion ($4.69 million), up 33%.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, its TAR share closed Monday at VND22,700 ($0.96).

An Giang Import-Export JSC (Angimex) earned Q2 revenues of VND162 billion ($6.8 million), down 88% year-on-year. The company, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as AGM, posted a loss of VND33.6 billion ($1.4 million), its fourth consecutive quarter of losses.

In the first half of 2023, Angimex recorded net revenues of VND321.6 billion ($13.5 million), down 86% year-on-year and a loss of VND56.7 billion ($2.3 million), compared to a corresponding loss of VND6 billion ($252,690) last year.

At the end of June, AGM's had total assets of VND1.56 trillion ($65.5 million), down 5% compared to the beginning of the year.

For 2023, Angimex has targeted consolidated revenues of VND4.01 trillion ($168.9 million) and consolidated pre-tax profits of VND10 billion ($421,200).

On the HoSE, AGM closed Friday at VND12,650 ($0.53) per share.

Vietnam is the world’s third-largest rice exporter, after India and Thailand. In the first seven months of this year, the country exported more than 4.48 million tons of rice worth nearly $2.4 billion, up more than 17% in volume and 28% in value over the same period in 2022, according to government customs data.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the average export price of Thai 5% broken rice, which is a benchmark for the global rice trade, increased by 12% from September 2022 to $600 per ton in July, the highest since 2014. The price of Vietnam's 5% broken rice also rose 9% to $545 per ton.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) had earlier forecast Vietnam's rice exports in 2023 at 7.2 million tons with revenues of more than $4 billion. This prediction is not much higher than last year’s total shipments, which reached 7.1 million tons (according to GSO data) with revenues of $3.46 billion.

A report by Tien Phong Securities (TPS) says Vietnam’s rice industry is enjoying several advantages. The world is facing a food supply shortage with the rice growing area in many countries damaged due to the El Nino phenomenon, pushing up prices. Rice export prices will continue to increase in the second half of 2023.