Vietnam agribusiness HAGL targets record profit in 2026, plans first dividend in over decade

Vietnamese agribusiness firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai JSC (HoSE: HAG) has set an ambitious 2026 earnings target and signaled a return to dividend payments after more than a decade, underscoring a sharp turnaround following years of restructuring.

In a board resolution released on Friday, HAGL said it will seek shareholder approval at its 2026 AGM scheduled for April 17 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The company targets net revenue of VND8.62 trillion ($327.44 million) and net profit of VND4.2 trillion ($159.54 million) in 2026. If achieved, the profit figure would mark a record high, surpassing the group’s previous peak of around VND2 trillion ($75.94 million) during its expansion phase in the early 2010s.

The plan builds on a strong recovery in 2025, when HAGL reported revenue of VND7.44 trillion ($282.49 million) and net profit of VND2.24 trillion ($85.16 million).

The performance enabled the company to eliminate accumulated losses, with retained earnings reaching nearly VND1.4 trillion ($53.16 million) as of year-end, compared with a deficit of more than VND400 billion ($15.19 million) a year earlier.

On the back of the improved financial position, the firm plans to propose a cash dividend of VND500 ($0.02) per share for 2026, to be submitted for approval at the 2027 shareholder meeting.

The move would mark HAGL’s first dividend payout since 2014, when it distributed shares at a 10% rate, signaling a shift toward restoring shareholder returns after years of balance sheet repair.

HAGL is also accelerating investment in its core agricultural operations. The company plans to plant an additional 7,000 hectares of coffee, 1,000 hectares of mulberry, and 700 hectares of durian across Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

To support its upstream expansion, the group will invest in processing capacity, including four wet-processing coffee plants in key growing areas and a coffee extraction facility, aiming to move further up the value chain.

On March 16, HAGL revealed plans to develop a 20,000-hectare coffee plantation by 2028 as part of a strategy to expand deeper into the global coffee value chain. If completed, the plantation would become the largest directly managed coffee-growing area in the world, surpassing estates operated by international producers such as Horizon Plantations (14,656 hectares) and Daterra (6,405 hectares).

Founder and chairman Doan Nguyen Duc, widely known as “Bau Duc,” has continued to increase his ownership in the company. He has registered to purchase an additional four million shares between March 26 and April 24 via order matching.

The move follows the completion of a purchase of five million shares earlier in March, lifting his direct stake to about 24.45%. Including related parties, Duc and his affiliates now hold more than 375 million shares, equivalent to a 29.61% stake in HAGL.

HAG shares closed up 1.25% to VND16,150 ($0.61) on Friday.