Railway companies hit hard by COVID-19

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese railway companies reported large losses in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hanoi Railway Transport JSC (HRT) earned 469 billion VND (20.5 million USD) in the fourth quarter of 2020, down 21 percent year-on-year.

Cost of goods sold accounts for most of net revenue, thus gross profit totaled only over 8 billion VND, down sharply compared to 42 billion VND in the same period of 2019. After deducting expenses, the after-tax loss in Q4 was estimated at nearly 55 billion VND, while in the same period last year its loss was just more than 12.5 billion VND.

In 2020, HRT achieved revenue of 1.94 trillion VND, down 24 percent year-on-year. It suffered a loss of 195 billion VND in the year while enjoying profit of 14 billion VND in 2019.

Previously at the General Meeting of Shareholders in 2020, the company approved a plan for 2020 which expected total revenue to reach 1.63 trillion VND, and a loss up to 335.4 billion VND due to the influence of COVID-19.

The Saigon Railway Transport JSC (SRT) announced Q4 revenue of 282 billion VND, down by 22.5 percent year-on-year. It reported an after-tax loss of more than 105 billion VND.

For the whole year 2020, SRT reported an accumulated loss of 218 billion VND, while the business had a profit of 14.6 billion VND in 2019.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many railway companies faced difficulties. According to experts, the railway industry in 2020 experienced the most difficult period in history.

The Vietnam Railway Corporation (VNR) also announced that its revenue in the first nine months of 2020 decreased 34.2 percent year-on-year, equivalent to a decrease of 1.18 trillion VND./.