Half-century old domestic brands still thriving

Rang Dong thermos, Thong Nhat Electric, Lix Detergent,… are once-famous Vietnamese brands. With the changes and increasingly fierce competition in the market, these businesses are facing many pressures. Some brands continue to hold firm, but some names are forgotten.

VietNamNet would like to review how these businesses do business.

Half a century brand

While many enterprises from the subsidy period are operating inefficiently or even going bankrupt, Rang Dong Light Bulb and Vacuum Flask Joint Stock Company (RAL) has emerged as a business model in a fiercely competitive environment. Rang Dong's light bulbs and vacuum flasks - traditional products - are still well received by domestic consumers.

Currently, Rang Dong products are not only traditional light bulbs and thermos bottles, but also LED lighting products, providing smart lighting systems and solutions. Not only that, Rang Dong products beat cheap Chinese products, even though they are more expensive, such as LED lights.

Focusing on strong investment in technology development, establishing high-tech research centers, applying smart production and management solutions in operations has helped Rang Dong develop sustainably over the past 60 years.

Rang Dong has realized the strategy of international economic integration, participating in the global value chain. In 2022, export revenue reached 581 billion VND. Rang Dong products are exported to 47 countries and territories spanning 5 continents around the world, including many products that meet the very strict standards of demanding markets such as the United States, Japan, Korea, Brazil, etc.

According to the 2022 financial report, net revenue reached VND6,910 billion, up 21%. Profit after tax reached more than VND486 billion, up 22% over the same period. This is a record profit since its operation.

In the first quarter of 2023, RAL maintained strong growth, reaching net revenue of VND 2,137 billion, up more than 19% over the same period. After deducting expenses, RAL's profit reached more than VND 182 billion, up 42% over the same period in 2022.

Another long-standing brand associated with many generations of Vietnamese people is LIX Detergent Joint Stock Company (code: LIX), owner of the once famous LIX detergent brand.

LIX detergent is a brand that has served Vietnamese consumers for nearly 50 years. In a context where giants in the world consumer goods industry dominate, LIX has its own direction by exploiting the rural market. In rural areas, the LIX brand is even better recognized than many brands of foreign giants.

Realizing that the use of washing machines is becoming more and more popular and consumers tend to gradually switch to using liquid detergents instead of traditional washing powders, LIX has focused on the liquid detergent segment. In addition, to help LIX “survive” in the market, it is necessary to strengthen the distribution system.

Thanks to proactively adapting to the times, LIX's revenue has always increased. At the end of 2022, LIX's after-tax profit was recorded at VND 213 billion, an increase of 27% compared to 2021, nearly 4 times higher than in 2012.

Not only that, over the past 10 years, LIX's annual business results have always achieved an average positive profit of hundreds of billions of VND. Total assets in 2022 compared to 2012 increased 2.7 times to 1,232 billion VND.

At the end of the first quarter of 2023, LIX's net revenue still achieved good results, of which revenue reached 687 billion VND, an increase of 20 billion VND over the same period and profit after tax reached more than 44 billion VND, a slight increase over the same period in 2022.

Another name is Hanoi Battery Joint Stock Company (Habaco, code: PHN), owner of the Rabbit Battery brand. Habaco, formerly Van Dien Battery Factory, was built in 1960. The company operates mainly in the field of battery production and trading. Habaco officially operated as a joint stock company since 2004.

Since converting its model into a joint stock company, Habaco has maintained its domestic and export market share. Rabbit Battery products still maintain their competitive advantage in terms of selling price and discount policy, thus maintaining their market share.

In addition, Habaco still maintains customers exporting Kodak brand batteries through the Company selling batteries to Global Company in Vietnam for export to the US. Habaco's project to export batteries to India was assessed and certified by the Indian Government's BIS in August 2022.

2022 was a year of many business breakthroughs for Habaco when revenue reached 461 billion VND, an increase of 26% over the same period and also a record high since coming into operation.

Accordingly, Habaco's profit in 2022 also achieved double-digit growth of 21% compared to 2021, recording nearly 37 billion VND in net profit.

In the first quarter of 2023, Habaco recorded revenue of more than 113 billion VND, an increase of 13 billion VND over the same period last year; profit after tax reached more than 12.3 billion VND, an increase of 90% over the same period in 2022.

High Price Stocks

Thanks to good business results, the stock codes of these enterprises are always at a high level. RAL shares of Rang Dong have always maintained their position at the top of high-value stocks in recent years. While the stocks of many big companies have fallen sharply, RAL shares have always stood above 100,000 VND/share.

At the end of the trading session on June 1, RAL shares reached VND 105,400/share, up 6% compared to the beginning of the year and down 34% compared to the peak of VND 155,000/share set in April 2021.

In 2023, RAL aims to achieve revenue of VND 6,100 billion this year and profit after tax of VND 366 billion. With the business results of the first quarter, RAL has completed nearly 50% of the profit plan for 2023.

LIX stock price reached 44,200 VND/share (session 1/6), 10 times higher than 10 years ago. LIX stock set its highest level in March 2021 when it peaked at 56,000 VND/share.

In 2023, LIX sets a business target of VND 2,957 billion in revenue, up 5% over the same period. However, pre-tax profit will decrease by 14% compared to 2022 to VND 225 billion.

Recently, LIX announced the closing of the list of shareholders to receive the remaining 2022 cash dividend. The ex-dividend date is June 15. With a dividend rate of 20% (shareholders owning 1 share receive 2,000 VND), it is estimated that LIX needs to spend nearly 65 billion VND for this dividend payment.

On the stock market, PHN shares have been maintaining a price of around 40,000 VND/share for over a year. PHN shares set their highest price in early March 2022, reaching over 46,000 VND/share.

This year, the owner of the Pin Con Tho brand plans to achieve revenue of VND444 billion and pre-tax profit of VND37.6 billion. With the first quarter results, Habaco achieved 32.7% of the 2023 profit plan.