Battle for Vietnam beer market share shows no signs of cooling as firms ramp up advertising spending

After a period of decline, the Vietnamese beer market is entering a recovery cycle amid an increasingly costly advertising battle among major producers.

The Q1/2026 financial statements from listed companies such as Habeco (HoSE: BHN) and Sabeco (HoSE: SAB) both show significant improvements in revenue and profit compared to the same period last year.

Habeco recorded revenue of VND2.04 trillion ($77.54 million) in Q1/2026, up more than 38% from VND1.48 trillion a year earlier. Its after-tax profit reached VND71 billion ($2.7 million), more than 3.5 times the VND20 billion reported in Q1/2025.

The much faster growth in profit compared to revenue indicates that the company’s profit margins improved significantly.

Meanwhile, Sabeco continued to demonstrate far stronger business efficiency. In Q1/2026, the company posted revenue of VND6.54 trillion ($248.6 million), up around 11% year-on-year. After-tax profit reached nearly VND1.25 trillion ($47.5 million), an increase of more than 55% compared to VND800 billion in Q1/2025.

Notably, although Sabeco’s revenue was only about three times higher than Habeco’s, its after-tax profit was more than 17 times greater, highlighting a significant difference in operational efficiency and profit margins between the two leading beer producers.

This gap partly reflects the different market structures of the two companies. Habeco still relies heavily on the northern market, where beer consumption often drops sharply during the cold early months of the year. In contrast, Sabeco has broader nationwide coverage and a strong market share in southern Vietnam, making it less affected by seasonal factors.

Advertising as growth driver

A notable point is that both Habeco and Sabeco maintain extremely large advertising budgets, at times even exceeding their after-tax profits.

In Q1/2026 alone, Habeco spent around VND162 billion ($6.16 million) on advertising and promotions, more than double its after-tax profit. Meanwhile, Sabeco spent approximately VND447 billion on brand promotion and consumer demand stimulation activities.

In the beer industry, advertising is not merely about communication campaigns but also includes various sales support programs, event sponsorships, point-of-sale promotions, and consumer incentive programs. As a result, marketing has gradually become an indispensable part of the market share race.

Habeco’s data over the past two years shows that whenever the company increases advertising expenses, revenue and profit tend to improve noticeably within the same reporting period. The middle quarters of the year - when temperatures rise and beer consumption surges - are also typically the periods when Habeco records its strongest business performance.

However, seasonality still has a major impact on the company, as the remaining quarters often deliver weaker business results despite heavy advertising spending.

For example, in Q4/2024, Habeco spent a record VND252 billion ($9.78 million) on advertising and promotions, yet revenue and profit still declined slightly from the previous quarter due to weaker consumption during the low season.

By Q4/2025, although advertising expenses remained high at around VND190 billion, after-tax profit dropped sharply to only VND74 billion, roughly one-third of the previous quarter’s figure.

According to Tran Dinh Thanh, chairman of Habeco, the company’s goal for 2026 is to maintain its northern market share while expanding more aggressively in southern Vietnam. If Habeco can achieve a better balance between northern and southern markets, the impact of seasonality on business results could decline significantly in the coming years.

When advertising becomes defensive cost

While Habeco is still in a growth and expansion phase, advertising for Sabeco is increasingly becoming a “market share defense” strategy.

Lester Tan, CEO of Sabeco, stated that no beer company currently holds an unshakable number-one position in Vietnam. Market share changes constantly from month to month and faces intense competition from international brands.

This has made the advertising race in the beer industry increasingly fierce. For large brands like Sabeco, each additional dollar spent on advertising no longer generates the same strong growth as in the early stages but is instead mainly aimed at maintaining market position under competitive pressure.

Financial data show that Sabeco’s profit margin often bottoms out in the fourth quarter each year - the period when the company sharply increases spending on advertising and promotions.

In Q4/2024 alone, Sabeco spent more than VND1 trillion ($38 million) on advertising and sales support, helping it achieve record revenue of over VND9 trillion. However, after-tax profit reached only around VND990 billion - the lowest quarterly profit in 2024 and one of the few quarters in which the company’s profit fell below the VND1 trillion mark.

This paradox reflects the consumption characteristics of the beer market, especially in southern Vietnam, where the year-end holiday season, Christmas, and New Year are periods when companies aggressively boost advertising and promotions to stimulate demand. As a result, although revenue often reaches the highest level of the year, profit margins tend to decline due to surging sales and advertising costs.

In other words, Sabeco’s advertising expenses now not only serve to drive sales but have become a “market share maintenance cost” amid increasingly intense competition from foreign brands such as Heineken and Tiger.

Advertising race continues

Despite their different market characteristics, both Sabeco and Habeco typically record stronger profit growth during the middle quarters of the year, which coincide with summer and major sporting events.

In reality, international beer brands such as Heineken, Tiger, and Carlsberg have long associated themselves with major football tournaments through large-scale sponsorship and promotional campaigns. The widespread presence of beer brands during events like the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA World Cup has become familiar to football fans.

Sabeco CEO Lester Tan also noted that football fans tend to enjoy drinking beer. Therefore, every summer, the firm launches numerous consumer-focused campaigns and football sponsorship activities.

As the hot season approaches, beer consumption is expected to rise further. However, advertising pressure in the beer industry is also likely to intensify, especially with the upcoming FIFA World Cup drawing closer.

In the beer industry, advertising appears to be both a growth driver and the price companies must pay to maintain their market positions. This suggests that marketing cost pressures may continue weighing heavily on corporate profit margins in the years ahead.

According to Expert Market Research, Vietnam’s beer market is projected to reach approximately $19.27 billion by 2035, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 6.6% during the 2026-2035 period.

The industry’s long-term growth outlook remains positive thanks to high beer consumption levels, urbanization, and the trend toward premium consumer segments. However, this also means beer companies are unlikely to significantly reduce advertising spending as brand competition continues to intensify.