Vietnamese EV maker VinFast halves losses in H1

VinFast, the electric vehicle arm of Vietnam's largest private conglomerate Vingroup, recorded post-tax losses of VND9,068.3 billion ($367 million) in H1/2024, half the loss it posted in the same period last year.

According to a filing with the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), VinFast’s equity fell 45.6% year-on-year to VND8,457.2 billion ($343.2 million). Its return on equity (ROE) improved from a negative 1.16% at the end of H1/2023 to negative 1.07% as of end-H1/2024.

Additionally, its debt-to-equity ratio rose from 9.85x to 23.07x from H1/2023 to H1/2024, equivalent to total liabilities of VND195,107.6 billion ($7.9 billion).

Of this, its outstanding bonds-to-equity ratio grew from 0.9x to 2.25x in the same period.

VinFast is set to release more details of its H1/2024 performance soon.

In June, Pham Nhat Vuong, founder and chairman of Vingroup and CEO of VinFast, announced that the parent company, its subsidiaries and financial institutions had collectively provided financing of nearly $13 billion for VinFast from 2017 to the end of Q1/2024.

By Q2/2024, Vuong had completed his $1 billion funding commitment to VinFast, which included VND20.6 trillion ($828.14 million) disbursed in 2023.

VinFast delivered 21,747 EVs in the first half of 2024, up 92% year-on-year, the company said in July. While the delivery results in Q2 were encouraging, ongoing economic headwinds and uncertainties in different macro-economies and the global EV landscape necessitate a more prudent outlook for the rest of the year, the company said.