Banks dominate Vietnam's Q3 earnings season, Novaland posts biggest loss

Eleven of the top 20 profit earners in Q3 were banks. Vietcombank (VCB) led the market with after-tax profit of nearly VND9.03 trillion ($342.5 million), up 5% from a year earlier.

The lender benefited from an 8% rise in net interest income to VND14.57 trillion ($552.8 million), a 194% surge in securities trading gains to VND106.4 billion ($4.04 million), and a 181% jump in income from associates to VND139 billion.

The next five positions were also held by banks: VietinBank (CTG) with VND8.51 trillion ($323 million), VPBank (VPB) with VND7.36 trillion, Techcombank (TCB) with VND6.61 trillion, BIDV (BID) with VND6.09 trillion, and Military Bank (MBB) with VND5.8 trillion. Other lenders in the top 20 included ACB (VND4.28 trillion), HDBank (VND3.8 trillion) and Sacombank (VND2.9 trillion).

Vinhomes (VHM) ranked seventh with profit of VND4.44 trillion ($168.47 million), driven by revenue from business cooperation contracts, bulk land plot transactions at the Vinhmes Golden City project (Hai Phong city), and continued handover at Vinhomes Royal Island (Hai Phong) and Ocean Park 2&3 (east of Hanoi).

Non-financial companies appearing in the top 20 included Viettel Global (VGI) with VND4.16 trillion ($157.84 million), steelmaker Hoa Phat (HPG) with VND4.01 trillion, Vinaconex (VCG) with VND3.3 trillion, and Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) with VND3.21 trillion.

For the first nine months of 2025, Vietcombank became the first listed company to surpass $1 billion in after-tax profit, reaching VND26.57 trillion, based on the bank’s USD/VND exchange rate on Monday, November 17.

Banks again dominated the top 20 with 11 representatives, while major non-financial entries included VEF (VND15.42 trillion or VND585 million), Vinhomes (VND15.31 trillion), and Hoa Phat (VND11.63 trillion dong).

Novaland posts largest loss

On the opposite end, several companies reported significant losses in Q3. Novaland (NVL) posted the biggest loss at VND1.15 trillion ($43.75 million), marking its fourth consecutive quarterly loss. Revenue fell 16% to VND1.68 trillion, though gross profit rose 7.5% to VND586 billion ($22.23 million) due to improved margins.

Financial income slumped from VND3.9 trillion to VND456 billion ($17.3 million), while financial expenses surged to VND1.45 trillion from VND319 billion, pushing the developer into loss compared with a profit of VND2.95 trillion a year earlier.

Despite the quarterly loss, Novaland’s retained earnings increased by VND406 billion to VND13.69 trillion ($503.9 million) as of September 30, which the company attributed to partial divestments in subsidiaries recorded directly in equity rather than in the income statement.

For the first nine months of 2025, Novaland also recorded the largest cumulative loss at VND1.82 trillion ($69 million).

Dua Fat Group (DFF) registered the second-largest loss in Q3 at VND368 billion ($13.96 million) - its biggest on record - driven by financial expenses of VND378 billion, far exceeding its VND15 billion gross profit from construction activities. DFF also ranked second in nine-month losses with VND688 billion.

Nguyen The Minh, director of retail client analysis at Yuanta Vietnam Securities:

Overall, market-wide earnings in Q3/2025 recorded strong growth of 35.3%. Several sectors posted triple-digit increases, including oil & gas (598.5%), telecommunications (273.5%), automobiles & components (525.6%), financial services (193.2%), construction & materials (132%), and insurance (131.1%).

Typically, during sideways or stagnant market phases, positive earnings news serves as a good catalyst. However, the VN-Index had already rallied strongly after the April 2025 correction, especially from July 2025 onward. In such periods of optimism, investors tend to pay less attention to the fact that many stocks are trading at high valuations.

For example, in August 2025, the brokerage sector’s P/B ratio exceeded its 5-year average, while the banking sector was nearing that level. With expectations already priced in, it is not surprising to see a “sell-the-news” reaction.

From another perspective, this is also a seasonal pattern. When the index rises rapidly, it needs a period of consolidation. Therefore, Q3 earnings season does not have much impact.

Ho Tuan Hieu, an investment strategy specialist at SSI Research

From a seasonal standpoint, looking at the earnings of non-financial companies, in nine out of the past 12 years, market-wide Q3 profits were lower than Q2, and in the same number of years, Q4 was the most profitable quarter of the year.

This means that the softening of Q3 earnings - though weaker than Q2 - is not negative, and Q4 could see more broad-based profit growth among non-financial companies, even without extraordinary earnings spikes.