Retail major MWG's 2022 profit drops 16% to 174 mln

Vietnamese retail giant Mobile World Investment Corp. (MWG) reported an after-tax profit of VND4,101 billion ($174 million) in 2022, down 16% year-on-year, fulfilling 65% of its plan.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based company recorded net revenue of VND133,405 billion ($5.66 billion), up 8%, according to its consolidated financial report.

As of December 31, 2022, MWG's total assets reached VND55,834 billion ($2.37 billion), down 11% compared to the beginning of the year, of which inventory hit VND25,696 billion ($1.09 billion), down 12%.

MWG was "sliding backward" as its 2022 profit had been expected to reach VND4.4 trillion ($187 million) or 90% of 2021’s figure, its chairman Nguyen Duc Tai said last November.

“This is the first year Mobile World has seen its profit go down,” he told an investor conference.

Tai said that the main reason was residents' falling income, thus purchasing demand went down. Amid difficulties, consumers tended to tighten spending, only purchasing necessities at cheaper prices, he added.

MWG is a leading retailer in Vietnam, selling mobile phones, digital devices, consumer electronics, and pharmaceuticals.

Another reason was its chain restructuring. The company had estimated that expenses incurred from asset liquidation and site return as a result of the closure of more than 400 stores amounted to VND500 billion ($20.18 million), which was recorded in the second- and third-quarter financial statements.

According to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), Dragon Capital sold a total of more than 5.3 million MWG shares in the February 3 trading session.

After the transaction, the number of MWG shares held by Dragon Capital decreased from 136.47 million units to 131.13 million, bringing the ownership ratio from 9.32% to 8.96%.

On December 26, 2022, Dragon Capital sold 6.65 million MWG shares. This divestment came while MWG's stock price has been trending sideways for more than two months after recovering 26% from the bottom on November 24.

On the HoSE, the MWG shares price was VND44,000 ($1.87) per unit at Thursday's closing session.