Vinamilk pins hope on Philippine market

                           A production line of Vinamilk. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) has flexibly adapted to difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by applying advanced technology into production, negotiating raw material purchase contracts with suppliers, and boosting export of the products. Particularly, forming a joint venture to gain a bigger share in the Philippine markets is expected to bring about high expectation for the company.

In the first six months of this year, the company earned 28.9 trillion VND (1.26 billion USD) worth of net revenue and 5.5 trillion VND (232 million USD) worth of after-tax profit. The figures decreased by 3 percent and 7.3 percent compared with the same period last year. 

The decline was attributed to lower demand and a surge in the price of raw materials.

Nevertheless, the company posted a record high in net revenue of 15.71 trillion VND (682.57 million USD) in the second quarter of this year, a year-on-year rise of 1 percent, according to its financial report. 

Its after-tax profit exceeded 2.86 trillion VND in the period, a year-on-year decline of 6.8 percent but up 10 percent against the first quarter.

The company’s net revenue also surged 18.5 percent against the previous quarter.

However, in the coming months, it will be difficult for Vinamilk to maintain its domestic revenue at the same growth rate as July this year, due to the impact of social distancing measures on people's income, according to Ho Chi Minh Securities Corporation (HSC).

New opportunity

Vinamilk said on August 17 that it has forged an alliance with Del Monte Philippines Inc (DMPI), a subsidiary of Del Monte Pacific Limited.

Total investment capital for the first phase is 6 million USD, in which, Vinamilk and its partners contribute 50 percent each.

DMPI is a producer and distributor of healthy food and beverages including ready-to-drink pineapple juice. It has been operating for more than 95 years in the Philippines.

The joint venture will import dairy products from Vinamilk, and market and distribute them in the Philippines through DMPI. It will use the co-brand Del Monte-Vinamilk for its products and promote the brand strength of both businesses. The joint venture will take advantage of Vinamilk’s strength in production and Del Monte in distribution.

For many years, Vinamilk has been an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for several dairy companies in the Philippines. Last year, export revenue of processed goods to the Philippines reached 7 million USD, equivalent to 3 percent of Vinamilk's export revenue. 

The HSC said a joint venture with DMPI did not affect Vinamilk's export of processed goods to the Philippines but brought about a new source of income. 

The first-year revenue of the joint venture is estimated at 8.8 million USD and the potential for compound growth is around 50 percent per year in the medium term. Accordingly, the joint venture will contribute 0.4 percent to Vinamilk's net revenue growth in the first year of operation and 0.5 percent in the following year.

This is positive news for Vinamilk. Joint ventures with leading large enterprises are creating expected growth thanks to expanding market and businesses lines. Enterprises also focus on developing modern channels and taking advantage of the sales capacity of partners to optimize selling costs and business management.

In fact, Vinamilk is effectively exploiting export markets. Its export revenue reached 2.7 trillion VND in the first half of this year, up 13.1 percent over the same period last year and contributing 9.6 percent of the company's total net revenue.

According to Vinamilk, the increase mainly came from the Middle East market, accounting for 70-80 percent of export revenue and new orders from the US and Europe which showed signs of recovery in consumer demand in the world.

Business results of overseas subsidiaries also gradually recovered.  

Driftwood - a subsidiary of Vinamilk with its head office in California, United States, has double digit growth in the second quarter of this year, after experiencing a deep decline of 20 percent in the first quarter thanks to reopening of schools in the US after more than a year of closure due to COVID-19.

Angkormilk, another Vinamilk's subsidiary in Cambodia, also enjoy a year-on-year increase of 3 percent in the second quarter of 2021./.

VNA