Vietnam real estate firms use financial activities as a lifebuoy, post profits

Selling assets, investment cooperation and lending are among the financial activities that Vietnamese real estate firms have undertaken to escape losses from steep falls in Q2/2024 sales revenue.

Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corporation, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as PDR, reported that Q2/2024 sales and services revenue was just VND8.2 billion ($325,172), equal to the current value of two mid-end apartments.

Its interest expenses hit VND73 billion ($2.89 million) and sales and corporate governance costs amounted to VND46 billion.

However, it was able to earn more than VND200 billion ($7.93 million) from the sale of a 25% stake in BIDICI Real Estate Investment JSC for VND770 billion ($30.53 million), helping it record after-tax profits of nearly VND50 billion ($1.98 million) in Q2/2024.

In H1/2024, the company recorded revenues of VND170 billion ($6.74 million) and after-tax profits of VND102 billion, down 13% and 66% year-on-year, respectively. It could achieve just 12% of the year's profit target.

Phat Dat leaders expect that in H2, the Bac Ha Thanh project in Binh Dinh province will complete payment of land use fees and become eligible for sales.

Social housing giant Nam Long Group (HoSE: NLG) escaped Q2 losses by selling a 25% stake in its Paragon Dai Phuoc project in the southern province of Dong Nai to Japan’s Paragon Urban Development Co., Ltd for VND662 billion ($26 million), earning a profit of VND230.7 billion ($9.1 million).

But net revenue from sales and services plunged 73.6% year-on-year to VND252 billion ($9.93 million) and gross profit fell 77% to VND129 billion, not enough to offset operating costs of VND184 billion.

In H1/2024, Nam Long recorded VND457 billion ($18 million) in net revenue, down 61.5% over the same period last year, mainly from selling houses and apartments at its Southgate and Izumi projects in Long An and Dong Nai provinces. Its after-tax profit hit VND95 billion ($3.74 million), down 62% year-on-year.

This year, Nam Long has set ambitious revenue and after-tax profit goals of VND6,657 billion ($262.3 million) and VND821 billion ($32.35 million), respectively. However, in H1/2024, the company fulfilled just 7% and 11.6% of the year's targets, respectively.

Meanwhile, the An Gia Real Estate Investment and Development Corporation (HoSE: AGG) posted Q2 revenues of VND169 billion ($6.7 million), just one tenth of the figure in the same period last year.

Its gross profit of VND28 billion ($1.11 million) was 49% lower than operating costs. But it was able to record a profit of VND1.6 billion ($63,448) thanks to revenues increasing from VND81 billion to VND109 billion derived from investment activities.

Another real estate developer, Novaland (HoSE: NVL), recorded a gross profit from sales and services of VND433 billion ($17.17 million) in Q2, lower than total sales and governance costs of VND448 billion. But its financial activities, investment cooperation, lending and others, generated profits of VND1,588 billion ($62.97 million).

As a result, the company was able to report after-tax profits of VND945 billion ($37.47 million), compared to a loss of VND684 billion in the same period last year.

In H1/2024, Novaland's revenue and after-tax profit reached VND2,246 billion ($89 million) and VND344 billion ($13.64 million), achieving less than 7% and 32% of the year's respective targets.

In a recent investor meeting, Novaland said that as of June, it had delivered about 4,388 units at projects in Ho Chi Minh City, Aqua City in Dong Nai province, NovaWorld Ho Tram in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and NovaWorld Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan. If the legal procedures are completed on schedule, it can hand over an additional 2,580 properties from now until the year-end, it said.

First Real JSC (HoSE: FIR) announced Q2 revenues of VND14 billion ($554,895), the lowest since its 2018 listing, due to a sharp decrease in real estate transfer revenue. Its after-tax profit was VND1.2 billion ($47,562), down 22% year-on-year.