Samsung unit only foreign name in top 10 profitable companies in Vietnam

Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT), a unit of tech giant Samsung, is the only foreign name in the list of 10 most profitable businesses in Vietnam.

The list was compiled by ranking company Vietnam Report JSC, based on 2021 data, and consulted on by reputable foreign and domestic economists.

SEVT was ranked second in the top 10, only after state-owned Petrovietnam (PVN). Others in order are steel making major Hoa Phat Group, military-run telecom giant Viettel, Vietcombank, Techcombank, state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN), VietinBank, MBBank, and Agribank.

SEVT, located in the northern eponymous province, recorded profits of $234.6 million and revenues of $2.55 billion in the first half of the year, up 64.2% and down 0.87% year-on-year, respectively, according to Samsung's financial report.

Samsung entered Vietnam in 2008 and has become the biggest foreign investor in the Southeast Asian country. The Korean giant currently has six factories in Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen and Ho Chi Minh City, an R&D center in Hanoi and a legal entity for sales.

About 60% of Samsung smartphones are made in Vietnam and the group had invested more than $20 billion as of June 2022, about 28 times higher than its initial commitment. The firm's registered investment in the country could exceed $21.5 billion this year, said CEO of Samsung Vietnam Choi Joo Ho.

Overall, the top 10 players featured five banks, two state-owned energy enterprises (PVN and EVN), one steel manufacturer, and two tech giants (Samsung and Viettel).

Together with BIDV, Vietcombank, Vietinbank and Agribank make up the "Big 4" banks. Vietcombank and Vietinbank have the state as majority shareholder while Agribank is wholly state-run.

MBBank has state-owned enterprises as major shareholders, holding an aggregate 32.42% stake, while Techcombank is one of the country's leading private banks.

The 10 most profitable domestic private companies include Hoa Phat Group, Techcombank, VPBank, Vinamilk, ACB bank, Masan Group, HDBank, VIB bank, Mobile World, and Masan Consumer.

Among the top 500 most profitable firms, both foreign-invested and domestic, real estate and construction companies led the pact with 22.2%, followed by finance and banking (13.7%) - a record high in six years, and food, drinks and tobacco (10.7%),

Regarding return on equity (ROE), in the top 500, foreign-invested enterprises maintained the leading position with ROE at 27.7% on average, followed by the domestic private sector (21.9%) and the state sector (16.5%).

About the country's econonic development this year, under Vietnam Report's survey in August, 78% of the top 500 businesses expected growth of 5-6.5%, 17.4% expected growth exceeding 6.5%, and only 4.4% expected a figure below 5%.