Hoa Sen Group (HSG),
which manufactures steel and plastic building materials, said it may
post a profit in the second quarter due to rising sales and
cost-cutting after its worst loss in seven years last quarter.


“We are optimistic that the company is on the right
track to make some profit by the end of March,” Financial Director Vu
Van Thanh said by phone Wednesday from southern Binh Duong Province,
without giving any figures. The company’s fiscal year begins on October
1.


The Binh Duong-based company cleared its stockpile of
steel and reduced costs by about 30 percent by restructuring debts,
lowering salaries and trimming its workforce, Thanh said.


It posted a loss of VND116 billion (US$6.6 million) in
the first quarter of this fiscal year as the global economic crisis
dampened steel demand and prices, it said in a statement on February 19.


Hoa Sen shares rose by the daily allowed limit of 5
percent, the most since it listed on December 8, to close at VND10,500
on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.