Lotte Shopping records 7% rise in H1 Vietnam department store revenue

Lotte Shopping Co., the retail property and hypermarket arm of South Korean chaebol Lotte, reported Vietnam as its most resilient overseas market in H1/2025, posting a 7% growth in earnings from its Lotte Mart stores and retail real estate projects.

Revenue at Lotte Mart Vietnam hit KRW214 billion ($155 million), while operating profit surged 23.5% to KRW21 billion ($15.1 million), the company said in its Q2 earnings report. EBITDA gained 19% to KRW31 billion ($22.3 million) in the six-month period.

Vietnam and Indonesia are Lotte Mart’s only overseas markets. While Indonesia’s performance was dampened by the Lebaran holiday, Vietnam outpaced it significantly, generating roughly double the operating profit and 1.5 times the EBITDA, despite contributing less in sales.

Lotte Mart entered Vietnam in 2008 and now runs 15 stores, mainly in the south. Its revenue, however, remains modest compared with local rivals. Masan Group’s WinCommerce posted VND17.9 trillion ($679 million) in H1 revenue, up 13% year-on-year, while Mobile World Group’s Bach Hoa Xanh reported VND22.6 trillion ($856 million), up 16%.

However, profit margins remain much thinner for both: Bach Hoa Xanh earned about VND205 billion ($7.8 million), while WinCommerce booked just VND68 billion ($2.6 million).

Lotte also reported strong gains in its Vietnam retail property business, which includes Hanoi’s Lotte Mall West Lake and Lotte Center. Property revenue rose 28% to KRW50 billion ($36 million) in January-June, while operating profit swung to KRW2 billion ($1.4 million) from a KRW6 billion ($4.3 million) loss a year earlier.