A new report has shown that many enterprises are optimistic about Vietnam and see big prospects in the country, the Vietnam Investment Review (VIR) reported on July 29.

Locally-owned Vietnam Report has conducted a survey of over 300 of Vietnam’s biggest enterprises, including foreign invested firms. Results showed that 95 percent of respondents are bullish on their revenue outlook for this year, while 84 percent said their 2014 revenue would exceed that of last year. Only 11 percent said they expected unchanged revenue.

“The figures show that most enterprises are confident in their performance and economic outlook. They are also expecting significant business recovery this year,” noted the survey.

According to the results, priorities for this year included customer care (65.6 percent), human resources development (60.7 percent), upgrading technology (50.8 percent), local and overseas market expansion (45.9 percent), and research and development (41 percent).

In late January, US-backed global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group reported that the middle and affluent class in Vietnam would double between 2014-2020, from 12 to 33 million. It also said that the number of consumers with a monthly income of 15 million VND (714 USD) was growing fast.

Tibor Novakm, country manager and chief representative of Hungarian-backed pharmaceutical firm Gedeon Richter’s representative office in Vietnam, told VIR that the firm was looking for opportunities to produce pharmaceuticals in the country.

“Vietnamese people are spending more on medicine and we are researching the market. If it meets our conditions, we might consider building a factory here,” he said.

The Vietnamese pharmaceutical market was valued at 3.34 billion USD this year, up from 2.94 billion USD in 2012.

Anuvat Chalermchai, brand director of Thai-backed SCG Cement Building Materials, told VIR that Vietnamese consumers’ spending on eco-friendly building materials was growing strongly. “That’s a very favourable factor for us in Vietnam.”

In this year’s first quarter, SCG Vietnam earned revenue of 133 million USD, impressively up 76 percent on-year. This year SCG will market several new products and technologies in Vietnam, such as concrete roof tiles and fibre cement board, COTTO bathroom products, and COTTO Italian ceramics.

András Somos, CEO of Hungary’s consulting firm SKC-Consulting also told VIR he was quite upbeat about business opportunities for SKC in Vietnam thanks to rising consumption. “We’re providing consultancy for many Hungarian firms wishing to do business in Vietnam, like Prigram operating in automatisation, General Com operating in water treatment and medical equipment maker Meditech.-VNA