PetroVietnam tops list of 500 lead earners

The Top 500 Largest Enterprises list from the Revenue Ranking Board follows the Fortune 500 model. It was released on December 14 by the Vietnam Report Company (VNR) and online news site VietnamNet.

The 10th year of the VNR500 list has honoured firms with outstanding achievements in 2016.

On the list, PetroVietnam is followed by Samsung Vietnam, Viettel Group and the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

On the 500 largest private firms list, Truong Hai Auto Corporation is followed by Vietnam Dairy Products Company (Vinamilk), Doji Gold, FPT Corporation and Vingroup Joint Stock Company.

VNR’s survey shows that the top 500 firms were optimistic about production and business in the first 10 months of the year. However, 16% of the surveyed firms reported decreasing turnover, while 15% expected reduced after-tax profit in the 10-month period compared to the same period last year. Local companies have been facing many hurdles because of fluctuations and changes in the world economy and politics.

The report said the number of labourers employed by businesses was stable. In the first quarter of 2017, 60% of the businesses are expected to maintain their labourers. It is also forecast that in the next quarter, business will remain stable or improve, in terms of turnover, profit and overall production, compared to the last quarter of this year.

Around 80% of the enterprises will scale up their business, and 19% plan to expand, while only 5% will maintain their current situation.

The current trend of integration and co-operation will gather more steam, the report said. So many investors from Thailand, Japan and the Republic of Korea will likely enter the Vietnamese market through merger and acquisition (M&A) or through joint venture projects. Around 25% of the surveyed firms said M&A and joint venture negotiations have been underway for the past three years, while 10% of the companies said they are looking for business cooperation.

In response to their strengths and weaknesses in the international market, 60% of the companies said their strengths were management skills and stable supplies. However, only 25% of the enterprises said their products and services were their strength, and 12% said their marketing activities were still a weakness.

The VNR suggest that large local firms should promote their brand names and improve productivity if they want to step into the global market.

In 2017, the economy shows positive prospects as big world economies have been gradually getting over their economic crises. Vietnam’s restructuring plan in the 2016-20 period is expected to create breakthroughs and allow companies to grow and expand their businesses.

An awards ceremony will be held in Hanoi on January 19 to honour the 500 companies on the list.