Listed companies have seen profits slow by 8.8 per cent from the previous quarter, according to Corporation.
About 260 of the 500 companies with shares listed on the nation's two stock exchanges posted their first-quarter business results before May 7, with net profits – excluding commercial banks – totalling over VND6.4 trillion (US$340 million).
Among 100 firms that didn't increase their charter capital last year, the growth in net profits lagged behind revenue growth, said General Director Nguyen Quang Thuan, who noted that small caps faced even more difficulties due to rising capital costs.
The companies that saw the highest growth in net profit were 63 firms that increased their charter capital this year. Their revenues rose by 123 per cent over same period of last year and net profits soared 223 per cent.
The top-four listed companies by first-quarter profit, among those that had reported results by May 7, were Vinamilk (VNM) with a profit of VND816.8 billion ($43.2 million), Phu My Fertilisers (DPM) with VND394.8 billion ($20.9 million), software giant FPT with VND384.4 billion ($20.3 million), and commercial baker Kinh Do Corporation (KDC) with VND355.9 billion ($18.8 million).
The other four companies with quarterly profits in excess of VND200 billion ($10.6 million) were Hoa Phat Group Company (HPG), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), Pomina Steel Corporation (POM) and Pha Lai Thermal Power Company (PPC).
Profits of building material and natural resources sectors declined the most, by 26.3 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively. Around 90 per cent of the listed companies on the Ha Noi bourse saw their profits fall from the previous quarter.
"The profit decline could be attributed to seasonal causes," suggested the director of one construction company with shares listed on the northern bourse, who asked to remain unnamed.
The energy sector also saw profits decline on a quarterly basis, with the profits of Pha Lai Thermal Power Company (PPC) falling by 29.2 per cent and those of Vinh Son-Song Hinh Hydropower Company (VSH) by 30 per cent.
The food and beverage sector saw the brightest growth during the first quarter, with listed companies in the sector posting a combined profit of VND1.45 trillion ($76.8 million), an increase of 43 per cent over the final quarter of last year, with VNM and KDC among the most profitable companies.
Profits in the banking and financial services sector, meanwhile, grew by just 23 percent, far off the 500-per-cent growth of the same period of last year, a slowdown that coud be attributed to a sluggish stock market in the first three months of the year and slow credit growth in the commercial banking sector.