Major Industries Continue to Stage Impressive Growth

2019 continued to witness the robust growth of service and industrial businesses, accounting for more than 98% of revenue in 2019. The agricultural sector accounted for a modest share of less than 2%.

This information was cited from the VNR500 Ranking - 500 Largest Enterprises in Vietnam in 2019, announced recently by Vietnam Report Joint Stock Company and VietNamNet Newspaper in Hanoi.

Some main sectors continued to maintain their position and had the best growth and a high share of revenue, including food - beverage, telecommunications - information technology, banking - finance, real estate, retail, pharmaceutical, and shipping - logistics.

Impressive revenue growth

In the VNR500 Ranking 2019, all categories enjoy revenue growth, averaging 14.55%. This is an impressive growth rate in the context of economic difficulties. Many industries achieve double-digit revenue growth, much higher than the average of all industries, for example banking - finance, shipping - logistics, and construction - real estate.

The return on sales (ROS) of all VNR500 businesses is 6.32%. The financial and banking industry recorded the highest rate of 9.28%. ROS of VNR500 businesses is higher than the growth of 4.2% of the entire business sector (according to the 2019 White Paper Business Report released by the Ministry of Planning and Investment), but lower than the growth of 19.03% of Top 200 best Asian enterprises valued under US$1 billion.

The return on assets (ROA) of all VNR500 enterprises in 2019 is 2.78. The telecom - information technology posted the highest ROA of 13.11%.

The return on equity (ROE) of all VNR500 enterprises is 13.80%, with the retail sector recording the highest rate of 25.74%.

The survey showed that 49.2% of respondents saw better performance than last year; 39.5% said their business performance was stable; and 11.3% witnessed a business shrinkage.

Expectations on improved administrative reform and regulatory environment

The survey by Vietnam Report noted that 87.1% of businesses hoped the government will further reform administrative procedures and improve the legal environment because these barriers are reportedly affecting their business operations. In the context of deeper international economic integration, fiercely competitive market, finding out the market for products is increasingly important for businesses to develop. Therefore, up to 80.6% of enterprises need government supports to seek the market through trade promotion, product promotion and market research.

Although many organizations forecast that the world economy will decline in the coming time, economy is projected to stage high growth in the coming years. Vietnam has benefited from investment flow shifts and is becoming the focus of investment flows in the region with open opportunities in many fields such as finance, real estate, food and beverages.

Many businesses expressed confidence that their business performance in the first quarter of 2020 will be better than that of 2019. 50% of respondents forecast their stable business at the beginning of 2020; 44.1% thought their business to be expanded and only 5.9% expected their profit to decrease.

Quynh Chi