Passengers at the Cát Linh–Hà Đông urban metro line. VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Anh

The Hà Nội Railway Company Limited (Hà Nội Metro), the operator of the Cát Linh – Hà Đông urban metro line, announced that in 2023, the company made a profit of over VNĐ13 billion (US$510,730), nearly six times more than the previous year.

This marks the second consecutive year the company has reported a positive profit after seven years of losses.

The company’s latest audited financial statements showed that the company’s revenue in 2023 reached over VNĐ515 billion ($20.2 million), an increase of nearly 7 per cent compared to 2022. Ticket sales accounted for approximately VNĐ74 billion ($2.9 million), a 12.5 per cent increase, with the remainder coming from subsidies.

The cost of goods sold increased more than revenue, causing the gross profit for 2023 to be halved to VNĐ7.8 billion. Consequently, the gross profit margin fell to around 1.5 per cent.

Financial income surged 12.7 times to nearly VNĐ26.6 billion ($1.04 million), all of which came from interest on deposits as the company had over VNĐ685 billion ($26.9 million) in idle funds in the bank. Additionally, the company completely cut loan interest expenses, so no financial costs were recorded during the period.

Overall, the company made a post-tax profit of over VNĐ13 billion ($510,730), a 570 per cent increase compared to 2022 and double the planned target.

In 2022, the company had initially reported a profit of nearly VNĐ97 billion ($3.8 million) in its first financial report. However, the audit firm required the company to include depreciation costs for 15 specialised maintenance equipment for the Cát Linh–Hà Đông metro line into production costs. As a result, the profit for 2022 was adjusted to over VNĐ2 billion ($78,570).

The company also increased its equity capital from over VNĐ39 billion to more than VNĐ2.68 trillion, a 69-fold increase. Conversely, liabilities decreased 8.7 times to nearly VNĐ347 billion, mainly due to the completion of procedures to receive all assets of the Cát Linh – Hà Đông metro line.

This year, the company aims to transport nearly 11 million passengers and record total revenue of over VNĐ529 billion ($20.7 million), an increase of about 3 per cent compared to 2023. The company plans to make profit for the third consecutive year, with a target of over VNĐ13.4 billion ($526,540).

In addition to continuing to develop and operate the existing urban railway line, the company targets to establish the organisation and personnel needed to operate the Nhổn – Hà Nội Station metro line, including trial operations, management plans, ticket pricing, and subsidy policies for this project.

This urban metro line is more than 13km long and has 12 stations and 13 trains. Each train, whose designed speed is 80 km per hour, has four carriages capable of carrying over 900 passengers.

Currently, ticket prices range from VNĐ8,000 for a single ride to VNĐ15,000 for the entire route. A daily pass costs VNĐ30,000 per ticket, and a monthly pass costs VNĐ200,000. — VNS