Enhancing the brand value of state-owned enterprises thanks to investing abroad

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PVN's foreign investment projects are bringing in a lot of positive revenue. Photo: PVN

94 projects recorded revenue of nearly US$ 9.7 billion

In a report to the National Assembly, the Government said that by the end of 2022, there were 30 State enterprises and state-owned enterprises investing abroad directly or indirectly through subsidiaries level 1 and level 2. The total capital of these units poured abroad was more than US$ 6.62 billion by the end of last year.

Of these, Vietnam Oil and Gas Group - PetroVietnam (PVN) has invested over US$ 4 billion, accounting for nearly 61% of the total investment capital abroad of state-owned enterprises. Next are the Military Industry and Telecommunications Group (Viettel) and Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG), nearly US$ 1.5 billion and over US$ 0.77 billion respectively. Foreign investment fields continue to remain in 14 industries, of which the most are telecommunications, mining, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries...

In 2022, foreign investment projects of state enterprises and state-owned enterprises have earned more than US$ 427.4 million, with profits remitted home reaching nearly US$ 236 million. Cumulatively from the time of making overseas investments to the end of 2022, 72 investment projects of 16 enterprises have incurred recoveries with a total accumulated amount of more than US$ 4.08 billion, equal to 61.7% of total invested capital. PVN has the largest total recovery of more than US$ 2.9 billion, followed by Viettel with more than US$ 950.4 million.

The Government report also said that in 2022, there were 94 projects recording revenue of nearly US$ 9.7 billion, an increase of 24% compared to 2021. Of these, 67 projects were profitable, but the total profit after tax and shared profits of Vietnamese investors all decreased compared to 2021, 30% and 10.6% respectively.

Multiple goals in investing

In the first months of 2023, although the economic situation is still difficult, foreign investment projects of state enterprises and state-owned enterprises still record many positive results, helping to increase the brand value of Vietnamese enterprises.

For example, Viettel International Investment Joint Stock Corporation (Viettel Global) reached VND 13,300 billion, growing 18% in the first 6 months of 2023. Of these, most market companies have good growth in selling revenue and service providers, notably Movitel in Mozambique (28%), Telemor in East Timor (23%), Metfone in Cambodia (19%)... In particular, E-Wallet Company in Viettel Global's markets has very impressive growth: M_mola in Mozambique 906%, Telemor Fintech in East Timor 82%, Star Fintech in Laos 81%, Halopesa in Tanzania 41%, Lumicash in Burundi 31%... Thanks to that, the brand value of Viettel in 2023 is being valued at nearly US$ 9 billion according to Brand Finance - the world's leading organization in brand valuation.

Regarding the oil and gas industry, according to information from PVN, the entire industry currently has 32 signed foreign investment projects, including 5 oil and gas search projects, 21 oil and gas exploration projects, and 6 mine and reserve purchasing projects. Among these 32 projects, only with the Nhenhetxky oil and gas project and the project in Algeria, Vietnam's revenue exceeds the capital transferred abroad of all projects combined. The Rusvietpetro joint venture between PVN and Zarubezhneft is carrying out search, exploration, development, and exploitation activities in 13 oil fields in 4 blocks in Nhenhetxky autonomous region with geological reserves and oil recovery reserves of about 244 million tons and 96 million tons respectively. By the end of June 2023, the project in Algeria has exploited 48.14 million barrels of oil and is expected to reach 50 million barrels in 2023.

In addition, the iron and gold mining project of the Economic Cooperation Corporation (Military Region 4) of the Ministry of Defense is evaluated by the Government, in addition to its economic efficiency, enterprises of the Ministry of National Defense making investments abroad associated with the goal of ensuring national defense and security through good implementation of social responsibilities with the government and people in the project area..., contributing to maintaining and enhancing prestige and promoting economic, political, social, diplomatic and defense relations between Vietnam and investment-receiving countries.

According to a representative of the Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), state enterprises and enterprises with state capital invested abroad have contributed to affirming their governance, business as well as vision, and strategy. strategies. Thanks to that, state-owned enterprises have shown their position and leading role in the economy.

However, investment activities abroad are still "gray". According to the Government's report, projects with accumulated losses are still increasing, some projects are facing difficulties, have potential risks, have not recovered capital, or have no restructuring plan. Some fields and investment projects are not effective, must be stopped, and are at risk of losing capital, such as PVEP's oil and gas exploration project, and the Potassium salt mine project of Vietnam Chemical Group (Vinachem) in Laos, or Viettel's telecommunications project in Cameroon face exchange rate risks and large accumulated losses. By the end of 2022, there were 43 projects with accumulated losses with a total loss of more than US$ 1.44 billion, an increase of nearly 8% compared to 2021.

Therefore, according to experts, state-owned enterprises need to continue to be paid attention to and developed, with policies that direct them into fields with high-technology content, capable of dominating the domestic market. reaching out to the international market.