Lotte Shopping earns H1 revenue of $144 mln in Vietnam

Lotte Shopping, a distribution unit under South Korean conglomerate Lotte, recorded a revenue of KRW190 billion ($144.2 million) from its operations in Vietnam in the first half of this year.

Lotte Shopping operates department stores, hypermarkets and supermarkets, e-commerce, home shopping, culturework (cinemas), and hi-mart (electronics) in South Korea, and department stores and hypermarkets in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

In Vietnam, the firm posted a revenue of KRW10 billion ($7.6 million) from the department store segment in the six-month period, down 1.4% year-on-year. The figure accounted for 0.6% of Lotte Shopping’s global revenue of KRW1,618 billion ($1.2 billion) from the segment.

The operating profit in Vietnam fell 31.2% to KRW2 billion ($1.5 million) in the six-month period. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) inched down 2.6% to KRW4 billion ($3 million).

In the hypermarket sector, Lotte Shopping’s revenue in Vietnam rose 16% year-on-year to KRW180 billion ($136.6 million), making up 6.3% of the firm’s global figure of KRW2,869 billion ($2.2 billion).

The operating profit from this segment in Vietnam grew 20.7% to KRW14 billion ($10.6 million), while the EBITDA increased 20% to KRW22 billion ($16.7 million).

Lotte Shopping attributed the achievements to solid sales growth in Vietnam.

Globally, in the first half of 2023, Lotte Shopping made a pre-tax profit of KRW195 billion ($147.9 million) on a revenue of KRW7,184 billion ($5.4 billion). The figures in the second quarter of this year were KRW90 billion ($68.3 million) and KRW3,622 billion ($2.7 billion), respectively.

Lotte Shopping noted that the number of department stores in Vietnam remained at two as of the end of 2022 and would rise to three in 2023, with the expected opening of one unit in the third quarter of this year.

In addition, the number of hypermarkets in Vietnam went up from 14 in 2021 to 15 in 2022, with one more expected in the third quarter of this year and another in the last quarter, bringing the total to 17 by end-2023.

South Korea's Lotte Shopping opened a $250 million mega commercial complex in Hanoi on July 28 as part of Lotte Group’s continuous investment expansion in Vietnam.

The new property, Lotte Mall West Lake, features a shopping mall, a supermarket, a hotel, an aquarium, a movie theater, and other major Lotte affiliates. Following this soft opening, Lotte Shopping plans a grand official opening of the mall on September 22.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern economic hub, Lotte Group is developing its $900 million multi-function Eco Smart City on the Thu Thiem peninsula.

The project will cover 50,000 square meters, comprising a shopping mall, a hotel, office buildings, serviced apartments and a residential complex. It will include five underground floors and 60 above and deploy smart technologies, the company said.