WinCommerce Continues to Turn a Profit in August

WinCommerce owns and operates a retail chain with more than 130 WinMart supermarkets and more than 3,600 WinMart+/WiN mini supermarkets.

Retail sector continues to reap "sweet fruit"

Recently, Masan Group announced information on extending the time to exercise the put option with SK Group and successfully increasing ownership at WinCommerce.

According to the announcement, the corporation and SK Group ("SK") agreed to extend the time to exercise SK Group's put option with Masan Group for a maximum of 5 years. At the same time, SK transferred 7.1% of WinCommerce ("WCM") shares to Masan Group ("MSN") for 200 million USD. In addition, the corporation also successfully negotiated and received the right to purchase the remaining shares of SK Group in WCM in the future at the original price SK invested.

The positive changes of the company since the beginning of the year have contributed to strengthening the group's decision to increase its ownership. WCM is the company that owns and operates the largest modern retail chain in Vietnam, with more than 130 WinMart supermarkets and more than 3,600 WinMart+/WiN mini supermarkets.

Freshness, quality, and good price are the criteria that WinMart focuses on to serve its customers.

In a recent meeting with investors, the group representative shared: "WinCommerce continued to bring in profits in August 2024. LFL growth of the mini-supermarket system reached more than 10%". Thus, WCM has continuously brought in profits in the three months of June, July and August 2024. This marks an important milestone in WCM's retail strategy when innovations and operational optimization have brought sustainable profits.

“WinCommerce has entered a profitable phase. We expect this trend to continue to accelerate as we achieve Like-For-Like growth, successfully open new stores, and drive the development of Vietnam’s modern retail market in the medium term. We appreciate SK Group’s collaborative approach to maximizing shareholder value for all stakeholders,” said Danny Le, CEO of Masan Group.

The increased ownership in WCM helps the group increase its control and promote the growth of its core business in the long term. In addition, the move to increase ownership in WCM also demonstrates the company's consistency in its strategy of increasingly focusing on its core retail consumer business.

Consumers shop for products at good prices at WinMart supermarket.

Ready financial resources

According to the group's financial report, Masan's cash and cash equivalents increased to VND21,977 billion in Q2-2024, compared to VND16,919 billion in Q4-2023 thanks to improvements in free cash flow and cash flow from financial activities of the enterprise. Notably, free cash flow for the last 12 months increased to VND7,429 billion in Q2-2024, up 71% over the same period last year.

Accordingly, the group successfully completed a $250 million equity investment from Bain Capital on April 22, helping to increase its cash balance by VND6,228 billion.

Then in May, the group announced the signing of a sales contract between Mitsubishi Materials Corporation Group and Masan High-Tech Materials (MHT, a subsidiary of the group). Masan is expected to receive more than 70-80 million USD in cash from this deal in the second half of 2024 when the deal is completed.

WinMart Phu My Hung is crowded with customers coming to shop.

Recently, Masan Consumer Corporation (a member company of the group) announced that it will submit to the general meeting of shareholders for approval of the additional 2023 dividend payment plan.

Specifically, the expected cash dividend payment rate is 168% (1 share receives 16,800 VND). Previously in June, the group also received more than 1,000 billion VND in dividends from Techcombank (TCB). The group is expected to receive thousands of billions of VND in dividends from affiliated companies and members this year.

With strong financial potential, the group possesses many advantages to realize strategic initiatives to help perfect the retail consumer ecosystem and increase profits.

According to the company representative, Masan will use available cash to buy WCM shares without having to borrow more. WCM's upcoming focuses are to achieve 7-8% same-store revenue growth, reduce rental costs, improve cash flow, improve product portfolio and classification to differentiate in the market, develop the WiN membership program and launch personalized promotions.

Masan has set a business plan for 2024 with a consolidated net revenue target of VND84,000 - 90,000 billion; after-tax profit for parent company shareholders of VND1,000 - 2,000 billion. This enterprise recorded impressive business results when after-tax profit reached VND503 billion in the second quarter of 2024, nearly 5 times higher than the same period last year, even higher than 2023 at VND419 billion.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/wincommerce-tiep-tuc-mang-ve-loi-nhuan-trong-thang-8-20240905151017266.htm