Companies upbeat on 2017 earnings

Hanoi (VNA) – Last year was favorable for hydropower companies as demand for electricity grew faster than power capacity. This was enhanced by early rainfall which helped increase production.

Central Hydropower JSC (CHP) on January 11 reported its performance beat targets. Production reached 877.5 million kWh, surpassing the yearly goal of a 35 percent increase. Its total revenue was 873 billion VND (38.3 million USD) and net profit 403 billion VND, up 34 percent and 82 percent, respectively, over the targets.

Although posting a decline in Q4 profit, Se San 4A Hydropower JSC (S4A) recorded a successful year with net profit doubling that in 2016 to hit 134 billion VND and revenues reached 286 billion VND, up 27 percent year-on-year. These results represented 3 percent and 88 percent increases over targets set for the whole year.

Hydro Power JSC Co - Power No 3 (DRL) also posted higher growth in 2017 with total sales of 102.5 billion VND and net profit of 61 billion VND, exceeding 35 percent  and 50.5 percent, respectively, compared to its yearly goal.

Such impressive results have allowed hydropower generators to pay investors generous dividends, making their shares more attractive.

DRL decided to pay a total dividend of 61.08 percent for 2017. It advanced investors 40 percent in cash twice in 2017.

Meanwhile, CHP announced it would spend 126 billion VND for a 10-percent cash dividend, which is expected to pay in the first quarter of 2018. S4A’s management board also approved a cash dividend plan of 15 percent.

Shares in hydropower firms also grew substantially last year with CHP rising 35 percent, S4A increasing 69 percent and DRL climbing 50 percent.

It is noteworthy that price-earnings (P/E) ratio of hydropower companies is much lower than the market’s P/E, which currently stand at about 20x. P/E ratio of CHP is 6.58 while those of DRL and S4A are 7.09 and 8.81, respectively.

Among oil and gas companies, PV Gas (GAS) reported it had exceeded 2017 financial targets by 28-68 percent, of which total revenues hit more than 66 trillion VND and pre-tax profit was 10.56 trillion VND, a growth of 9-15 percent over 2016 figures.

PetroVietnam Technical Services JSC (PVS) posted consolidated revenues of 14.8 trillion VND and pre-tax profit of 1 trillion VND, exceeding yearly targets by 14 percent and 43 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, PetroVietnam General Services JSC (PET) estimated consolidated revenues of 9.8 trillion VND and pre-tax profit of 159 billion VND, up 1 percent and 9 percent, respectively, over the 2017 projection.

Regarding property developers, Dat Xanh Real Estate Service & Construction Corp (DXG) estimated net sales of 3 trillion VND and net profit of 750 billion VND in 2017, completing only 91 percent of sales target, but surpassing the profit goal by 7 percent.

DXG shares offered good investment return with a 12 percent growth since early this year, settling January 12 at 24,150 VND per share. Its shares also soared 110 percent in 2017.

Thu Duc Housing Development Corp (TDH) also made a positive estimated result, following which its total sales reached 1.95 trillion VND, up 70 percent year-on-year and a surge of 43 percent over the yearly target. Its 2017 net profit is projected at 142.4 billion VND, up 32 percent year-on-year and 9 percent higher than the target.

The banking sector also witnessed impressive growth in 2017 with big lenders such as Vietcombank (VCB) and BIDV (BID) reporting growth in pre-tax profit of 14-20 percent over 2016’s performance.

Together with positive signs from businesses, the stock market has recorded strong development since early this year with the benchmark VN-Index rising nearly 7 percent to more than 1,050 points this week.-VNA