Lotte Shopping enjoys 26% H1 retail revenue boost in Vietnam

Lotte Shopping, under South Korean conglomerate Lotte, earned revenues of KRW239 billion ($175.1 million) from retail activities in Vietnam in the first half of this year, up 25.8% year-on-year.

Its department store business recorded revenues of KRW39 billion ($28.6 million) in the six-month period, nearly quadruple year-on-year.

This was the highest among all of Lotte Shopping's overseas businesses, followed by Indonesia with KRW11 billion ($8.1 million) and China with KRW8 billion ($5.9 million).

Domestic market South Korea was the biggest cash earner with KRW1,594 billion ($1.17 billion), down 0.6%.

The hypermarket segment posted revenues of KRW200 billion ($146.5 million), up 11.3% year-on-year. This was the segment’s lowest overseas result for the company. South Korea, the home market, topped this segment with revenues of KRW2,022 billion ($1.48 billion).

In terms of operating profit, Lotte Shopping’s department store business in Vietnam made a loss of KRW6 billion ($4.4 million) in H1/2024, three times the KRW2 billion recorded for the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, the hypermarket segment’s operating profit rose 19.7% year-on-year to KRW17 billion ($12.5 million).

Lotte Shopping operates three department stores and 16 grocery stores (supermarkets and hypermarkets) in Vietnam.

For Q2/2024, Lotte Shopping highlighted sustained high growth in revenue from activities in Vietnam. The department store business recorded revenues of KRW20 billion ($14.7 million), up 316% year-on-year; the hypermarket sector earned KRW92 billion ($67.4 million), up 7.1%; and its cinema operations (under Lotte Cultureworks) raked in KRW16 billion ($11.7 million), up 31.7%.

Globally, Lotte Shopping recorded a post-tax loss of KRW7 billion ($5.1 million) in H1/2024, while revenues declined 2.4% year-on-year to KRW9,826 billion ($7.2 billion).