TCB- Business Results Update

Yesterday, TCB released its financial statements for 2Q 2018. From the FS, we found that TCB had a thirteen straight quarters of YoY profit growth. It is now considered as the most effective Vietnam commercial bank: the highest ROA (3.2%), the lowest CIR (27.9%), and the highest TOI per employee (VND 2.1 Bn per staff).

PNJ- Updates on 2018 First-Half Result

After the first six months, PNJ gained VND 7,331 bn in revenue, an increase of 34% yoy. Gross profit reached VND 1,325 bn while profit before tax was VND 637 bn, which increased respectively 42% and 35% compared to 2017. In Q2 2018, PNJ’s net revenue reached VND 3,188 bn, increasing 38% yoy. Gross profit and profit before tax reached VND 561 bn and VND 219 bn respectively, which represented an increase of 43% and 34% compared to Q2 2017.

NTP- Remains on Track Amid Input Price Hike

NTP has experienced a difficult Q2/2018 due to input price hike. Even though its Q2’s revenue went up by 20% YoY, costs of sales rose by over 33%, taking NTP’s Q2 gross margin to 26%, the lowest since Q1/2019. Nevertheless, NTP’s sales volume tracked closely to its guidance and its 1H2018’s profit reached 42% of the annual target since input price hike had been taken into account.

Industrial Park Lease to Flourish

Industrial zone leasing activity has flourished in 1H 2018 underpinned by supporting factors, especially FDI. Given that registered FDI of USD 35.8 billion in 2017, the disbursement in 1H 2018 arrived at USD 8.37 billion (+8% YoY) while the registered capital reached USD 20.3 billion (+6% YoY). Excluding the USD 4.1 billion real estate project in Dong Anh (Ha Noi), the latter figure only came at USD 16.2 billion (-16% YoY). We, however, think that not all industrial zones benefit from ample inflows. FDI disbursement has clustered in several regions such as Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau in the South or Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Hai Phong in the North. Industrial zones in these areas are large in scale and have well-developed infrastructure. Most of them have recorded positive results in 1H 2018 such as the industrial zone in Dong Nai, leased about 80 ha, accounting for 80% of the year target, with the registered FDI estimated at USD 903 million. Its occupancy rate is around 75%, higher than the national average of 10%.

HDB – Company Report on Jul 20, 2018

Growth drivers from customer ecosystem and consumer finance

Japan and the EU sign trade agreement

The Japan- European Union Partnership Agreement was signed in Tokyo this Tuesday. It will strengthen links between both parties and provide a base for a host of other free trade efforts, including the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Pharmacy Chain – Lack of a Supportive Environment

Recently, retailers such as MWG and FRT have started to move into pharmaceutical retail. In particular, we see that FRT's Long Chau chain has got off on the right foot. However, the pharmacy chains model still faces many difficulties due to mediocre market size and a lack of a supportive environment.

Bloomberg Live ASEAN Business Summit 2018

More than 50% of participants appreciate and look for opportunities in Vietnam, especially in some sectors such as consumption, infrastructure, tourism, foods export. Similar to other regional countries, Vietnamese companies need to effectively cooperate with domestic and international distributions to exploit Chinese consumer market. Besides, a clever foreign policy is required to China’s debt-trap diplomatic and financing capital.

MCH – Positive Growth thanks to Premium Products

We just had a meeting with representative of Masan Consumer (MCH) to update its business results in Q2 2018, as well as the future prospect and strategy of company in the coming years. Overall, thanks to catching up the trend of FMCG through the premiumization of core portfolio, MCH recorded a remarkable growth rate of 78% in Q1 2018, also its revenue is expected to be VND 7,646 bn (+39% YoY) in 1H 2018.

Jack-Up Rig Day Rates in Southeast Asia and Worldwide in 2018

Normally, the rig day rates fluctuates in the same direction with the oil price. However, the rig rates in the early months of 2018 did not see any increase with the climb of the oil price, it declined sharply. This has greatly impacted on the performance of drilling companies, including PV Drilling. So what is the explanation for this phenomenon?

SCR – Robust Apartment Sales to Boost Revenue

TTC Land is a real estate developer, owning a 1,799 hectare land bank. Its business has been focused on residential projects in HCMC. The company is planning to expand its business with industrial parks and tourism. The land bank will be allocated amongst segments: Residential (Ho Chi Minh City), Industrial parks (Long An and Tay Ninh) and Tourism (Phu Quoc, Kien Giang).

HAX – 1H 2018 PERFORMANCE

After a 92% YoY decline in Q1 2018’s earnings, the business result of HAX witnessed significant improvement in the next quarter, resulting in 35% growth in PBT of 1H 2018. Although the strong growth makes current P/E valuation of HAX look attractive, we still find it reasonable due to the discount for some certain risk factors.