PV Gas beats 2024 profit target in six months

PV Gas, a subsidiary of state-run Petrovietnam, earned a consolidated net profit of VND5,832 billion ($231.3 million) in the first half of this year, down 10.3% year-on-year due to rising management costs.

The six-month performance exceeded the firm’s 2024 net profit target by 2.8%.

PV Gas, 95.76% owned by Petrovietnam, booked net revenue of VND53,367 billion ($2.12 billion) in H1, rising 17.92% year-on-year, its quarterly financial statement shows. This performance fulfilled 76% of the whole-year target.

Management costs soared 90.1% year-on-year to VND1,398 billion ($55.45 billion), eating into the firm’s gross profit of VND6,427 billion.

Between April and June, the gas giant made a consolidated net profit of VND3,321 billion ($131.68 million), up 5.26% year-on-year. It attributed the Q2 profit growth to an 8% year-on-year hike in the average oil price to $84.94 a barrel during the quarter.

Q2 revenue jumped 25% year-on-year to VND30,052 billion ($1.19 billion).

At its 2024 AGM in May, the company’s leadership noted that domestic gas supplies were depleting quickly, especially those from the Nam Con Son 1 and Ham Rong-Thai Binh fields. Thus, it has been acquiring costlier gas supplies from other domestic fields and Malaysia’s Petronas. Stiffer competition is also a significant challenge.

As of June 30, PV Gas’s total assets had reached VND95,167 billion ($3.77 billion), rising 8.4% from end-2023. Of this, cash and cash equivalents and bank deposits totaled VND43,919 billion, a record high, accounting for 46% of its total assets.

In H1, PV Gas earned VND831 billion ($33 million) in interest income from bank deposits and loans, down 20% year-on-year due to lower interest rates.

Its liabilities rose 8% from end-2023 to VND24,246 billion ($961.4 million), of which short-term liabilities went up 18% to VND17,645 billion.

PV Gas has decided to pay a record-high cash dividend of VND6,000 ($0.24) a share for 2023. For the payout, the firm will spend VND13,780 billion ($546.4 million), of which VND13,200 billion will go to Petrovietnam.

PV Gas dominates around 70% of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Vietnam and provides gas for the generation of 9% of the country’s electricity output and 70% of its urea fertilizer production.

In June, the firm took delivery of the fifth LNG batch to feed gas-fired power plants in the country amid the dry season.

Shares of PV Gas, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange as GAS, were trading at VND78,300 ($3.1) apiece at Friday’s break.