Masan Group has been named among the Top 50 Listed Companies in Vietnam by Forbes Vietnam for nine years in a row. — Photo courtesy of company

HCM CITY — Masan Group has been named among the Top 50 Listed Companies in Vietnam by Forbes Vietnam for a ninth year in a row.

This year Masan Group and its subsidiaries made it into many reputable rankings and won prestigious local and international awards, underlining the outstanding business results and sustainable development strategies of one of the largest private companies in Việt Nam.

US business magazine Forbes Vietnam applied its global ranking method to compile the list but also taking into consideration the characteristics of the Vietnamese market. 

The assessment is based on metrics like compounded annual growth rate, return on equity, return on capital, and earnings per share in 2016-20.

Besides, companies also have to satisfy criteria like sustainable development, their position in the industry, profit sources, governance quality, and industry development prospects.

Recently Masan Group received the Community Initiative Award at the 2021 Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability Awards.

Vietnam Report recently listed Masan Group among the five largest private enterprises in Việt Nam.

Vietnam report also listed a number of Masan member companies and subsidiaries such as WinCommerce, Masan Consumer Holdings, Masan MEATLife, Vinacafe Biên Hòa, and Phúc Long in its list of Top 10 Prestigious Companies in the food and beverage and retail industries in 2021.

Masan High–Tech Materials was named among the Top 100 Sustainable Companies in 2021 and nominated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to represent Việt Nam at the ‘ASEAN Minerals’ Award.

WinCommerce restructuring ‘sweet’

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to all aspects of the socio-economy in 2021.

As the leading and retail company in the country, Masan Group focused all its resources to ensure the supply chain remained intact and goods could be delivered in time to people everywhere.

In the first nine months of 2021 Masan Group's net revenues increased by 16.5 per cent year-on-year to VNĐ64.8 trillion, driven by strong topline growth across nearly all businesses.

Masan Consumer Holdings increased its net revenues by 14.3 per cent, Masan MEATLife by 32.8 per cent and Masan High-Tech Materials by 89.3 per cent.

WinCommerce (formerly VinCommerce) delivered net profits after tax post minority interest (NPAT Post-MI) for the first time in the third quarter, seven quarters after Masan’s acquisition.

It was an important step in restructuring WinCommerce and creating a foundation for Masan to take strategic measures in the Vietnamese consumer-retail market.

Mini mall model lures customers

A Vinmart+ store operating under the integrated mini-mall concept, which enables customers to buy groceries, perform financial transactions, drink tea and coffee, buy medicines, and access digital services under one roof. — Photo courtesy of company

 At Masan Group’s 2021 annual general meeting, Danny Le, its general director, said the company does not plan to stop with the retail model of providing groceries, and its vision is to build a ‘Point of life’ platform that meets all kinds of necessities, finance, healthcare, digital services, education, and entertainment.

These services account for 80 per cent of consumers’ spending.

It will be an offline-to-online platform that helps customers enjoy the same outstanding experiences whether sitting at home or shopping in stores.

In building of the ‘Point Of Life’ platform, Masan has attracted foreign investment and expanded cooperation with leading Vietnamese enterprises.

Masan and SK Group recently signed an agreement to acquire secondary shares in The CrownX (a consumer-retail platform that consolidates Masan's interests in Masan Consumer Holdings and WinCommerce) for a cash consideration of US$345 million, of which $340 million will be from the South Korean conglomerate.

Besides, in May this year a consortium including Alibaba and Baring Private Equity Asia injected $400 million to buy a 5.5 per cent share in The CrownX.

Also in May Masan acquired 20 per cent of Phúc Long Heritage Joint Stock Company and initiated the model of Phúc Long kiosks in VinMart+ stores.

In September Masan bought 70 per cent of Mobicast Joint Stock Company, the owner of the Reddi mobile virtual network, marking its entry into the field of telecommunications.

The group has also tied up with Techcombank and Phano Pharmacy to integrate financial services and pharmacy counters at VinMart+ stores (to be renamed WinMart+ in the near future).

Masan has begun testing retail locations under an integrated mini-mall concept in Hà Nội and HCM City where consumers can buy groceries (VinMart+), conduct financial transactions (Techcombank), drink tea and coffee ( Phúc Long), buy medicines (Phano Mart), and access digital services (Reddi mobile network) under one roof.

As of the end of November more than 300 Phú Long kiosks have been set up at VinMart+ stores in 13 provinces and cities.

According to Masan, mini malls help consumers save time while still enjoying high-quality products and services.

This is especially relevant in busy urban areas where the middle class is growing rapidly.

The mini mall also allows Masan to expand its customer base.

WinMart+ customers are mainly housewives, while Techcombank, Phúc Long, Phano, and Reddi mobile network are for all ages and genders, especially young customers who are willing to experiment with new consumption trends.

In a recent note to customers Viet Capital Securities Joint Stock Company recommended they should buy the Masan Group share (HOSE - MSN)

It set a target price of VNĐ186,000 (the share closed at VNĐ153,700 on December 10).

This reflects the confidence investors and financial institutions have in Masan’s ‘Point Of Life’ platform and sustainable development strategy. VNS