Vietnam's largest enterprises stand firm during the pandemic

	The more transparent information is, the better business performance is
	Survey shows Korean firms satisfied with Vietnamese entry process
	Seafood firms urged to capitalise on CPTPP to boost exports to Canada

Top 10 largest Vietnamese enterprises in 2020

Many businesses have maintained their rankings

According to the VNR500 ranking this year, the Top 6 remained the same as the 2019 list with familiar names such as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Vietnam Electricity (EVN), Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN), Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel), Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), and Vingroup Group - JSC.

The remaining four positions in the top 10 include the three names of 2019, namely Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industry Group (Vinacomin), Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), but their position has changed.

Notably, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical JSC (ranked 7th in the top 10 in 2019) was knocked out of the list, replaced by Mobile World Investment Corporation (ranked 10th in the 2020 list).

There was no change in the list of top 10 Vietnamese enterprise in the 2020 VNR500 ranking. The first three positions remained the same with Vingroup - JSC, Mobile World Investment JSC, and Doji Jewelry Group JSC.

Top 10 largest Vietnamese private enterprises in 2020

The rest of the positions were changed, in which, the drop in the rank of Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk) was noticeable. In 2019, this enterprise fell to 6th position, and to 7th position in 2020, while it was in the top three for many years, below Hoa Phat Group JSC, Truong Hai Automobile JSC, and Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank.

According to Vietnam Report, the VNR500 list is mainly based on total revenue and other business performance indicators (total assets, total employees, growth rate, profit, and corporate reputation in the media) to assess the current overall strength of the business.

Improved indicators compared to 2019

In 2020, the domestic and international economy have been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, of which enterprises were the most directly affected.

However, according to a survey conducted by Vietnam Report in October 2020, enterprises in the 2020 VNR500 ranking list recorded impressive results.

In general, all industries had revenue growth with the average revenue growth rate of the entire business sector reaching 12.52%. In which, there were many industries with double-digit revenue growth, outperforming the average of the entire business sector such as engineering, construction - construction materials - real estate, finance, transportation - logistics, and telecommunications - informatics - information technology.

Revenue and revenue growth by industry

In terms of indicators evaluating business performance of enterprises in the 2020 VNR500 Ranking, there were positive changes compared to the 2019 ranking.

Specifically, the average return on assets (ROA) of the VNR500 enterprises reached 5.73%, which has improved significantly compared to 2.78% in the 2019 VNR500 Ranking. The average return on equity (ROE) reached 16.24% – an increase of 2.44% compared to the 2019 VNR500 Ranking. Additionally, the return on sales (ROS) also increased from 6.32% in 2019 to 6.58% in the 2020 VNR500 Ranking.

Notably, the food and beverage industry ranked first in terms of efficiency in using assets and equity (achieving the highest ROA and ROE, 10.43% and 21.97%, respectively). The finance sector still held the leading position in the ROS index, reaching 13.01% (from 9.28% in 2019).

Explaining the reason for standing firm during the Covid-19 pandemic, the enterprises said they had implemented five coping strategies. That is, increasing staff training, maximizing human resources (90.4% of businesses); cost reduction (86.5%); strengthening competitive advantage (73.1%); increasing capital for technology and digital application (53.8%) and enhancing the customer experience (42.3%).

However, to overcome difficulties, continuously respond to the pandemic in the future, most businesses believed that it was not enough to rely solely on the enterprises’ internal resources, but need support from the State and banks through packages of support, incentives and loans, so that businesses could maintain a stable cash flow and balance revenue - expenditure, and develop their production and business.