Just three days before the year came to an end, South West PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals JSC (PSW) announced a resolution of the board of managers on the adjustment of business targets for 2023.

The 2023 post-tax profit target was lowered from VND20 billion to VND4.04 billion, and revenue from VND4.148 trillion to VND2.87 trillion.

As such, the targeted profit was lowered by five times compared with the figure approved at the shareholders’ meeting in April 2023.

The adjustment of business targets was made after the company realized that the business performance was not satisfactory and it would be difficult to obtain the goal. After the first nine months of 2023, PSW had only VND5.1 billion in post-tax profit and VND2.193 trillion in revenue.

If compared with the adjusted targets, PSW exceeded the targeted profit by 24 percent and fulfilled 77 percent of targeted revenue.

The fertilizer and chemicals manufacturer had set the target of obtaining post-tax profit of VND12 billion in 2024, or three times higher than the new target for 2023.

Many other businesses, including big corporations and economic groups, also made the same move.

Just one week before 2023 fiscal year ended, Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) released a resolution on adjusting business targets for 2023.

Under the resolution, targeted revenue was lowered by 12 percent from VND27.527 trillion to VND24.243 trillion, while targeted post-tax profit was lowered by 21 percent from VND4.264 trillion to VND3.363 trillion.

The rubber company had to adjust its business plans after only implementing 60 percent of the plan after the first nine months of the year.

With the new business plan, both revenue and profit were much lower than the real business results in 2022, though rubber prices had been on the rise (the decreases were 12 percent and 29 percent, respectively).

Prior to that, Petrolimex Petrochemical Corporation (PLC) also cut the profit target by 30 percent, expecting post-tax profit of VND112 billion instead of VND160 billion and revenue of VND8.395 trillion instead of 8.9 trillion.

Like PSW and GVR, PLC also had unsatisfactory business results in the first three quarters of 2023 with post-tax profit decreasing by 26 percent compared with the same period 2022.

Sao Ta Foods JSC (FMC), a subsidiary of SSI ecosystem, reduced targeted revenue and profits to VND4.87 and VND300 billion, respectively.

Its preliminary report showed that the large shrimp producer had estimated revenue of VND4.8 trillion and profit of VND300 billion in 2023, fulfilling its business targets (after adjustment). However, compared with the same period 2022, FMC’s revenue and profit were both 11 percent lower than the previous year.

Vinatex (Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group), the largest Vietnamese textile and garment manufacturer, in November decided to reduce its revenue target by 6 percent, from VND17.5 trillion to VND16.5 trillion, and its profit target by 40 percent, from VND610 billion to VND370 billion.

The decision was released after the company saw net revenue drop by 14 percent to VND12.187 trillion in the first nine months 2023, and post-tax profit plummet by VND94 percent to VND37 billion. After three quarters, Vinatex could only fulfill 70 percent of the yearly business plan.

Analysts say that nearly all business fields faced difficulties in 2023 and they had to adjust business targets. Not only rubber, seafood and garment companies, whose export revenue dropped dramatically because of weaker global demand, but enterprises in advantageous business fields also suffered.

Steel manufacturing, for example, was believed to benefit the most from the government’s plan on promoting public investments and developing transport infrastructure projects. However, steel mills did not gain satisfactory business results as expected.

VNSteel (TVN), for example, is facing continued losses, and it had to cut the pre-tax profit target from VND52 billion to VND1 billion. It incurred a loss in two out of three first quarters in 2023.

The business performance of other steel mills was also bad because of the gloomy real estate market. 

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Manh Ha