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At Hoa Phat Group’s 2026 annual general meeting, Chairman Tran Dinh Long highlighted the company’s growth strategy and ambitions for the coming period, alongside recent operating results and capital allocation plans.
Hoa Phat reported after-tax profit for Q1 of 9,056 billion VND. More than 57% of this figure came from core manufacturing, while 3,800 billion VND was attributed to the transfer of the Phố Nối real estate project in Hung Yen.
Chairman Long said these results provide a financial stepping stone toward a 2026 profit target of 22,000 billion VND. In response to a shareholder question, he also expressed a wish for profits of 30,000 billion VND.
After two decades of growth, Hoa Phat’s market capitalization has officially surpassed 200,000 billion VND (about 8 billion USD). The chairman also noted the group’s scale relative to Vietnam’s GDP of 514 billion USD.
On questions about fluctuations in Hoa Phat’s stock price, Long declined to provide buy/sell advice, stating: “As long as I remain in this position, I will never tell anyone to buy or sell Hoa Phat shares.”
A strategic highlight for the next phase is participation in the North–South high-speed railway supply chain. Long said Hoa Phat is investing in technology to produce high-speed rail steel rails, a segment he described as currently limited to 2–3 European firms capable of manufacturing equipment to the required standards.
The company’s goal is to capture the high-speed rail build-out and replace imports with 100% domestically produced products.
On market potential, the chairman compared steel consumption levels: Vietnam at about 250 kg per person, South Korea at approximately 1 ton per person, and China at about 800 kg per person.
With rapid urbanization and a GDP growth target above 10%, Long said domestic steel demand is expected to rise in the next decade.
Regarding competition, he emphasized that despite new entrants, Hoa Phat continually updates technology and remains vigilant, adding: “Let others do as they will, but competing with Hoa Phat is difficult.”
Long said the real estate segment is changing direction. Instead of spreading across many locations, the group is focusing on prime, highly liquid sites with direct connectivity to multi-modal infrastructure, including roads, beltways, and metro stations under a TOD (transit-oriented development) model.
A bright spot was also highlighted in consumer electronics. Long cited that refrigerators and freezers have grown fivefold in recent years, with products described as domestically abundant and exported to demanding markets including the United States and India.
He added that he hopes 300,000 shareholders will each buy a Hoa Phat freezer.
When asked when Hoa Phat would be debt-free, Long said the company should not aim to be debt-free. He noted that banks sometimes criticize the company for using too little leverage, and said maintaining prudent debt levels helps ensure liquidity and readiness for large-scale projects such as Dung Quat 2.
The board decided to pay a 2025 dividend of 15%, including 5% in cash and 10% in shares. Long also said the company is committed to sustaining dividends through 2030.
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