'Shrimp king' Minh Phu reports first loss after 7 years

Minh Phu Seafood Corporation, Vietnam’s leading shrimp exporter, reported a net loss of VND195 billion ($7.54 million) in 2023, the first loss after seven fiscal years.

The company, registered on the unlisted public company market UPCoM as MPC, recorded net revenues of nearly VND10.7 trillion ($436.2 million), down 35% year-on-year, according to its newly released financial statement.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, its net revenue reached VND3.22 trillion ($131.27 million), a year-on-year increase of 26.2%. However, rising cost prices pulled gross profit margin down to nearly 9%, as compared to 22.5% in the same period the previous year.

As a result, the firm’s gross profit hit only VND290 billion ($11.82 million) in the quarter, down more than 49.5% year-on-year.

Financial revenue plunged 82.3% to VND27 billion ($1.1 million). Financial and sales expenses were VND68.1 billion ($2.78 million) and VND218.6 billion ($8.91 million), down nearly 56% and 13.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, business governance costs nearly doubled to VND79.9 billion ($3.26 million).

After deducting costs, the company saw its Q4 net profit plummet over 96.5% year-on-year to VND9.1 billion ($370,980).

Given the above results, the company, based in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau, failed to fulfill its yearly targets of VND12.79 trillion ($521.4 million) in revenue and VND639 billion ($26 million) in after-tax profit.

The firm’s total assets as of December 31, 2023 reached VND10.2 trillion ($415.82 million), down nearly 4.2% compared to the beginning of the year. Of which, inventories were worth of VND4.97 trillion, down nearly 1.6%; short-term receivables VND1.28 trillion, down 16.3%; and fixed assets VND1.48 trillion, down nearly 7.8%.

Regarding capital structure, Minh Phu’s total liabilities hit VND4.74 trillion ($193.23 million), down nearly 2.1%, including VND3.9 trillion of short and long-term financial loans.

MPC closed the Friday session at VND17,100 ($0.7) per share.