Vietnamese consumer retail-focused firm Masan Group pocketed 394 billion dong ($15.1 million) in net profit in the first quarter of 2025 (Q1 2025), up nearly 279% year-on-year.
The company expects net profit to reach 4.9-6.5 trillion dong for the full year, translating to a growth of 14-52% compared with the 2024 financial year, it said.
It will continue to divest from non-core businesses, such as the sale of German tungsten powder producer HC Starck, to become a more focused consumer-retail platform.
Masan’s retail store network WinCommerce and food processing unit Masan MeatLife together posted 206 billion dong in EBIT growth in Q1 2025, “underscoring their emergence as future core profit engines”, Masan said.
The company asserted that the direct impact of the proposed US tariffs will be minimal. The US market accounted for less than 1% of the fast-moving consumer goods subsidiary, Masan Consumer’s 7.5 trillion dong revenue in the first quarter.
International markets witnessed a 73.2% year-on-year increase in revenue—the largest markets include mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.
For Masan High-Tech Materials, key products are currently exempt from the announced tariff measures.
“US-China trade tensions have triggered critical metal export restrictions from China, pushing prices upward,” which bolsters Masan Hi-Tech Materials’s earnings potential and underscores its strategic importance as a non-China supply source, Masan said.
Amid the headwinds to exports and foreign direct investment, the company anticipates its core segments such as consumer staples and grocery retail to benefit from domestic stimulus.
Masan is backed by marquee investors such as South Korea’s SK Group, TPG, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), GIC, Temasek-backed SeaTown Holdings and Alibaba. In 2023, the firm raised a $250-million financing from Bain Capital’s special situation arm.
In September last year, Masan secured an agreement with SK that saw the Korean chaebol extend its put option with Masan for up to five years.
SK had injected $470 million into Masan for a 9.5% stake in 2018. Along with the put option extension, Masan will buy back a 7.1% stake in WinCommerce from SK for $200 million.
