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| Metfone - Viettel's brand in Cambodia, is the No.1 company in the market with its record growth. |
Accordingly, the cumulative total return for the whole year of 2018, Viettel Global achieved 16,867 billion VND of net revenue, down by more than 2,100 billion VND compared to the previous year mainly due to a decrease in equipment sales.
At the beginning of the year, Viettel Global had a policy to narrow the low-margin equipment business to focus on its core business field of telecommunications services.
As a result, the service revenue continued to increase by over 400 billion VND compared to 2017 to over 15,500 billion VND. This was also the highest level.
Its service revenue accounted for 92% of the total - the highest level since 2012 when Viettel Global started expanding its business to Africa. Although the total revenue decreased compared to last year, the gross profit continued to set a new record, reaching more than 5,300 billion VND, rising by 19% compared to the previous year, thanks to its focus on services with high profit margins,.
Its gross profit margin made up 31.5%, the highest level in the last 4 years.
In terms of revenue structure, the Africa and ASEAN markets still contributed mainly to its total revenue, reaching VND 7,100 billion and VND 6,100 billion respectively while the Latin American market contributed nearly VND 2,300 billion. The revenue of the two telecom networks in Laos and Myanmar were not consolidated into its total revenue as Viettel Global holds less than 50% of their total shares.
In the past year, Viettel Global also sharply cut its operational costs with a reduction of 650 billion VND in management and selling expenses compared to 2017.
With the above factors, in the condition equivalent to 2017 (not to mention the planned loss in the Myanmar market), Viettel Global's profit could have reached nearly VND 2,000 billion. However, due to its large investment in the Myanmar market during the first year of operation, Viettel Global recorded a pre-tax loss of about VND 139 billion.
Regarding the Myanmar market, although its network just came into operation, it saw the most impressive growth in the history of foreign investment of Viettel Global. After just over 6 months of operation, Mytel - Viettel's brand in Myanmar, exceeded 5 million subscribers - the number that any markets around the world, including Vietnam, would need years to reach.
By April 2019, Mytel has risen to the third largest network in Myanmar, accounting for 14% of the market share after just 8 months of operation. Mytel’s growth has become a phenomenon of the global telecommunications industry. As expected, Mytel will be profitable in 2019 and continue to be Viettel Global's biggest growth motivation.
Viettel's other overseas affiliates also achieved good business results in 2018, including Natcom in Haiti with its growth rate of 520% , and Lumitel in Burundi growing 226%, which all began to bring profits to Viettel Global.
Viettel’s two overseas brands of Metfone and Unitel saw the highest growth over the last 4 years (Metfone increased by 11%, Unitel increased by 16%) while Telemor in East Timor, taking the lead in offering electronic wallet and mobile payment services in the market, continues to maintain its first position in the market in terms of market share, revenue, network infrastructure, technology and also the best brand.
Since the beginning of 2019, Viettel Global's VGI share prices have risen sharply with its peak of nearly VND 28,000 in mid-March - twice compared to the end of 2018. VGI is currently fluctuating around VND 22,500, which means its market capitalization reached over VND 50,000 billion (USD 2.2 billion).
