Fish sauce and chili sauce are two familiar products on the Vietnamese family’s rice tray with low prices, but they bring in profits of hundreds to thousands of billions a year for the two retail giants Masan and Cholimex.

Cholimex has been involved in the retail market since the late 1980s and is currently one of the industry leaders along with Masan. The condiments of these two “giants” of the food industry, Cholimex Food and Masan Consumer, have become familiar to Vietnamese kitchens and rice trays from chili sauce, ketchup, fish sauce, soy sauce, to oyster sauce, satay…

Both of these two units have just closed 2021 with a relatively stable growth rate, despite a difficult year due to Covid-19.

In 2021, Cholimex Food achieved a total revenue of 2,513 billion VND, reaching 100.5% of the plan, up 11% compared to 2020. Profit before tax reached 232.5 billion VND, reaching 101.1% of the plan, up growth of 4.1% over the same period last year.

Profit after tax reached nearly 186 billion dong, up about 4.1%. Corresponding EPS is 22,960 dong, which is quite high compared to the average food industry (specifically sauces).

In 2022, this unit continues to set a revenue target of 3,000 billion dong, pre-tax profit of 250 billion dong, up 19.4% and 7.5% respectively compared to this year.

On the side of Masan, not only a competitor, in 2014, the Masan deal that sent a public offer to buy 49% of Cholimex Food shares at the price of 90,000 VND/share – equivalent to the company’s valuation at 730 billion VND – used to be noticed.

But despite the high price, Masan was still rejected by existing major shareholders, Cholimex and Nichirei Food. At the 2015 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, these major shareholders also vetoed the content “Nominate Masan as a member of the Board of Directors”. In the end, Masan Food only bought 2.66 million shares, equivalent to 32.83% of Cholimex Food shares and kept the same until now.

Although it could not acquire Cholimex Food, Masan continued to expand and achieved significant business growth. The seasoning segment alone has always outperformed Cholimex Food in terms of revenue.

In 2021, Masan Consumer’s revenue from this segment will reach 9,700 billion VND, 3.9 times higher than Cholimex Food’s revenue.

In the first quarter of 2022, Masan Consumer sublimated with a galloping profit growth of 8 times over the same period last year, consolidated net revenue reached VND 18,189 billion, continuing to be Masan’s strong growth driver.

Masan Consumer expects revenue growth of 30% in the second quarter of 2022 thanks to the launch of new products as well as the increase in sales of existing products.

In 2022, Masan Consumer’s net revenue is expected to reach VND 34,000 billion – VND 40,000 billion, an increase of 18 – 39% compared to 2021. The growth driver comes from the premiumization strategy, growth in core products and new innovations, along with increased customer reach through the WCM chain and other modern commercial retailers.

Masan currently has a great brand advantage when there are 12 product brands ranked No.1 in different consumer goods industries. Most of the foods that consumers choose to serve in their daily lives are Masan’s products.

Source: CafeF