Chairwoman Le Thi Thanh Le, Binh's wife, has now been temporarily barred from leaving Vietnam after the company accumulated more than VND85 billion in overdue tax debt.

Against this backdrop, Viet Phat has set a modest 2026 revenue target -  just VND500 billion, nearly 25 times lower than the previous year.

Shares plunge

Viet Phat Group (HoSE: VPG) has disclosed extraordinary information that Chairwoman Le Thi Thanh Le has been temporarily barred from leaving Vietnam since July 6, 2026, after tax authorities determined the company is owing VND85.8 billion in taxes that had remained unpaid for over 120 days. The restriction will remain in effect until the company fulfills its tax obligations to the state budget.

The announcement has further darkened the outlook for Viet Phat. On July 8, VPG shares hit the daily limit down of 7 percent, falling to VND2,260 per share, their lowest level in years.

Notably, the company's tax debt of more than VND85 billion is now equivalent to nearly half of its market capitalization on the stock exchange.

The development marks the latest setback in a string of challenges that have persisted for more than a year. In mid-2025, former Chair Nguyen Van Binh and former CEO Nguyen Van Duc were prosecuted on charges of bribery in a case involving Viet Trung Mineral and Metallurgy Co., Ltd. (VTM). Both executives subsequently resigned, while the chairmanship was handed over to Le Thi Thanh Le, Binh's wife.

Since the leadership crisis began, VPG shares have been in free fall. From trading above VND10,000 per share before Binh's prosecution, the stock has dropped to just over VND2,200, representing a decline of more than 77 percent. Compared with its peak in September 2023, the share price has lost nearly 90 percent of its value.

The sharp decline reflects the difficulties facing the company. Viet Phat was once known as one of Vietnam's leading suppliers of iron ore, coke coal, and steel billets to domestic steel producers, while also serving major corporations including EVN, PVN, and Hoa Phat.

Founded in 2008 as a transportation business, the company later expanded into mining, import-export, real estate, and other sectors, once generating annual revenue worth tens of trillions of Vietnamese dong.

Revenue falls 

The company's financial results show that its business scale has shrunk rapidly.

During its high-growth period, Viet Phat generated revenue of approximately VND5.525 trillion in 2022, VND6.338 trillion in 2023 before surging to VND16.257 trillion in 2024. Net profit increased from nearly VND19 billion in 2022 to more than VND109 billion in 2024.

However, 2025 marked a major turning point. Revenue declined to VND12.478 trillion, about 30 percent lower than the previous year. More significantly, the company swung from a net profit of more than VND109 billion to a net loss of VND597 billion. Since April 2026, HoSE has placed VPG shares under warning status.

The company's 2026 business plan is far more conservative. Viet Phat is targeting revenue of only VND500 billion and net profit of VND5 billion. Compared with revenue exceeding VND12 trillion last year, its planned business scale would shrink by nearly 25 times.

First-quarter 2026 results indicate that this target reflects current conditions. Revenue reached just over VND191 billion, down nearly 96 percent year-on-year. The company no longer recorded revenue from thermal coal, a segment that generated nearly VND3.7 trillion in the first quarter of 2025. 

Revenue from coke coal and iron ore also declined sharply, while the company posted a loss of nearly VND32 billion, compared with a profit of more than VND20 billion during the same period last year.

According to Viet Phat, the primary reason was that major thermal coal supply contracts signed during 2024 and 2025 had been completed, while new contracts had yet been secured. Commodity market volatility, together with internal challenges, particularly changes in senior management, significantly affected the company's reputation and business operations.

Meanwhile, the real estate segment no longer contributed revenue after the company's subsidiary completed handovers for the Royal River City project in Hai Phong in 2025. 

The company's management expects 2026 to remain challenging as coal and iron ore markets continue to fluctuate, while the mining industry faces increasing pressure from environmental protection requirements and broader macroeconomic uncertainties.

As a result, Viet Phat has adopted what it describes as a strategy of "prudence, flexibility, and resource preservation," prioritizing the maintenance of minimum operating scale, tighter cash flow management, inventory reduction, and bad debt control while waiting for business conditions to recover.

Manh Ha