FPT Long Chau hopes to become a healthcare ecosystem

Ms. Nguyen Bach Diep, Chairwoman of FPT Retail's Board of Directors, shared her expectations for developing FPT Long Chau into a healthcare ecosystem at the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which took place on the afternoon of February 17 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Business plan for 2024 The Congress unanimously approved the revenue plan of VND 37,300 billion - an increase of 17% and pre-tax profit of VND 125 billion. Of which, revenue from the FPT Shop chain is expected to remain stable and revenue from the FPT Long Chau chain is expected to increase by about 34%. The business plan was proposed by FPT Retail in the context of a difficult general market with unpredictable developments along with growth expectations in new segments. In 2024, the technology market situation is forecasted to still have many potential challenges due to the difficult economic context, high inflation is the driving force for consumers to continue to tighten spending, especially on non-essential purchases. Facing the current situation, FPT Retail has continuously strived to innovate, flexibly deploy a multi-platform business model and improve customer experience. The company expects the revenue of the FPT Shop chain to continue to be guaranteed and remain stable in 2024. However, FPT Retail's business activities are expected to have positive changes, more prosperous than the "low point" in 2023 thanks to the main growth driver coming from the FPT Long Chau chain and the new segment - Vaccination Center.

*FPT Retail's 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Photo: FPT Retail*

Action plan for 2024 FPT Retail is always flexible and constantly creative to respond to the volatile times and consolidate its position in the market. Accordingly, the company continues to invest in expanding and developing the FPT Long Chau chain, adding new services and products to the FPT Shop chain to serve the diverse needs of customers, building and perfecting the warehouse system, human resources and technology. At the same time, FRT continues to apply technology comprehensively in all aspects, from operations to user experience with great support from FPT Corporation to bring customers the best shopping experience. With the FPT Shop chain, FRT will drastically and synchronously deploy a series of solutions to optimize operating costs and perfect the system. Accordingly, FPT Shop continues to supplement and diversify product groups such as electronics, refrigeration, household appliances... to exploit and maximize the potential of each store, gradually improving gross profit margin. In addition, the company also continues to develop MVNO services, focusing on investing heavily in multi-platform online business. In terms of pharmaceuticals and healthcare, after 6 years of operation, FPT Long Chau still aims to maintain its position as the leading pharmacy chain in Vietnam. In 2023, the FPT Long Chau chain recorded success with 560 newly opened pharmacies, revenue increased by 66%, increasing the contribution rate to 50% of total consolidated revenue. In 2024, the company plans to open 400 more pharmacies, bringing the total number of pharmacies by the end of 2024 to about 1,900. Aiming to provide comprehensive healthcare for customers, FPT Long Chau has launched a chain of vaccination centers after the initial success of the pharmaceutical retail chain. After a period of piloting the vaccination center, along with the experience in the market and operations in the healthcare industry, FPT Retail aims to open 100 new vaccination centers in 2024. This is an important step contributing to building a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem of FRT in the future. Sharing strong expectations for a larger picture of FPT Long Chau in the future, Ms. Nguyen Bach Diep, Chairman of FPT Retail said: “FRT expects to develop FPT Long Chau into a healthcare ecosystem with Long Chau Healthcare Platform following the health life cycle of a person from disease prevention to healthcare and medical examination and treatment. In the FPT Long Chau healthcare ecosystem, customers are the center and FRT will strive step by step to perfect the ecosystem according to the established strategic model. Accordingly, the chain of pharmacies, vaccination centers, and eCommerce systems will continue to develop as presented to shareholders and will continue to research to add other services to complete the ecosystem. We are confident in the available resources of FPT Long Chau and what we have researched and learned from models that have similarities with FRT in general and Long Chau in particular in the world. To invest in the Long Chau Healthcare Platform strategy, we plan to raise capital through private offering of shares to investors with a maximum offering value of 10%".

*FPT Retail aims to develop FPT Long Chau into a healthcare ecosystem*

At the same time, FPT Long Chau chain also aims to continue to maintain its position as the leading pharmacy in medicine, especially prescription drugs, to provide customers with the best and highest quality options at the most suitable prices on the market. The system also strives to become a pioneer in developing 24/7 LC services, insurance, rare and difficult drugs to bring customers the best experiences. At the same time, FPT Long Chau always focuses on investing in and perfecting its human resources. The company plans to continuously recruit and apply technology in training, fostering and improving the professional capacity and service capacity of the pharmacist team to provide the most dedicated service to customers. Regarding the dividend payment plan, based on the forecast that 2024 will continue to be a relatively difficult year for the electronics retail market, therefore, to ensure business operations and capital needs for production and business activities, expansion of the FPT Long Chau chain and other projects,... FPT Retail will not pay dividends in 2024.

Thanh Ha

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