Billionaire Tran Dinh Long: Hoa Phat is not afraid of anything, we have lost our nerve to be afraid.

Speaking at the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on the morning of April 17, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company (HPG), billionaire Tran Dinh Long, pledged that the company would grow 15% each year, and would not adjust its business plan in the face of market instability.

Hoa Phat is not afraid of competition, not afraid of anything.

In 2025, Hoa Phat aims for revenue of 170,000 billion VND, an increase of 21% compared to 2024, and after-tax profit also increases by 25%, reaching 15,000 billion VND.

Chairman Tran Dinh Long affirmed that the group is bold in building a high-level business plan. With a profit after tax of 15,000 billion VND, each quarter must complete nearly 4,000 billion VND; that is a very high number, but it is also both a challenge and an opportunity.

Chairman Tran Dinh Long shared with shareholders at the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on the morning of April 17. (Photo: HPG)

Responding to shareholders' concerns that the 100,000 billion VND super steel project in Nam Dinh of Xuan Thien Group will make the market more competitive, Mr. Tran Dinh Long said: "Hoa Phat is not afraid of competition, not afraid of anything. We have lost the nerve to be afraid for a long time", Chairman Tran Dinh Long said happily.

He said Xuan Thien is a long story. In general, the story of Nam Dinh Green Steel is not simple, there are many influencing factors including cost.

“But that is not being subjective, we need to calmly deal with it. In short, competing with Hoa Phat is difficult,” said Chairman Tran Dinh Long.

Regarding concerns about US reciprocal tariffs, Hoa Phat leaders said that Hoa Phat steel is currently exported to 40 countries around the world . The US market only accounts for about 1%, and from the recent tariff instability, businesses have realized that dividing the market is very important, which will help reduce the impact, giving the group time to shift to other markets.

In fact, the steel industry has been subject to the 232 tax for several years now, so it is not subject to additional reciprocal taxes. Furthermore, the US has also removed steel industry incentives for some Japanese and Korean enterprises, so competition is not a concern. In the first quarter of this year, the group was still able to export steel to the US.

With the export ratio, the company always maintains it below 20%. There were also periods like 2024, when the domestic market was difficult, the export ratio was very high, up to 31%. But this is an immediate solution, the principle is to maintain the sales ratio at 20%.

Acknowledging that the steel industry is facing many challenges, Hoa Phat leaders affirmed that business plans remain unchanged. This year, the group will stably operate furnace No. 1 of the Hoa Phat Dung Quat 2 Iron and Steel Complex project, and continue to invest in construction to complete furnace No. 2 in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Acknowledging the challenges of the steel market, Hoa Phat leaders have not changed their business plans. (Photo: HPG)

The group's long-term strategy in the coming time is to strongly increase the proportion of high-quality steel, such as steel for tire bead, automobile tire belt, cold-formed steel, prestressed steel, non-alloy spring steel, steel for crane cables, steel for precision screws; smooth round steel bars and rolled steel bars for processing and manufacturing industries,...

In addition, Hoa Phat will research and invest in projects to produce railway steel, steel for train and high-speed train axles, as well as high-quality steel for key national projects and export.

Defend first

Besides steel, agriculture is also a focus area and the group is doing very well. Chairman Tran Dinh Long told shareholders that the profit margin of Hoa Phat's agricultural sector in 2024 will be higher than that of the market's veteran enterprises and will reach the highest level in recent years of the group. This is also the dream profit margin in the Vietnamese market.

In the first quarter of 2025, the agricultural sector alone brought in after-tax profit of 400 billion VND for Hoa Phat.

Total revenue of all industries in the first quarter of the year was 37,000 billion VND, profit after tax was 3,300 billion VND. Compared to the set target, the company has achieved 22% of the profit target. However, compared to Mr. Tran Dinh Long's wish of completing nearly 4,000 billion VND in profit after tax each quarter, the gap is still quite far.

Closing the trading session on the morning of April 17, HPG shares were at VND25,050, slightly up from the opening price of VND24,800.

Regarding the suspension of the dividend payment plan at the time the US announced a 46% reciprocal tax on Vietnamese goods in early April, the group's leader said that according to the initial proposal, the group planned to pay a total dividend of 20%, including 5% in cash and 15% in shares.

However, in response to the US's reciprocal tax policy, the Board of Directors decided not to pay cash dividends, but to pay all dividends in shares, on a prudent basis and to ensure cash resources against international fluctuations.

Chairman Tran Dinh Long said that on April 2, the US's tariff policy shocked Vietnam in particular and the world economy in general.

"Right after April 2, due to tariff fluctuations, we immediately had to go into defense. The good news is that we received sympathy from shareholders in the market," said Mr. Long.

Mr. Long committed to shareholders that from 2026, Hoa Phat will pay cash dividends to shareholders, if the economy does not have further instability.

Thus, for 3 years, Hoa Phat has not paid cash dividends to shareholders.

Quang Huy

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/ty-phu-tran-dinh-long-hoa-phat-chua-so-gi-chung-toi-mat-day-than-kinh-so-roi-ar938229.html