Vietnamese dollar billionaires see rapid business growth

Vingroup, owned by Pham Nhat Vuong, and Vietjet, owned by Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, two dollar billionaires on Forbes’ 2017 list of the world’s billionaires, had good business performances in 2016.

Vingroup’s operation scale has been growing rapidly. Established as a real estate developer, Vingroup in recent years has injected money into many other business fields, from retail, hotel, and agricultural production to the education sector.

Vingroup reported total revenue of VND58.5 trillion in 2016, a sharp increase of 72 percent over 2015. Of this, the revenue from the real estate sector for the first time exceeded the $1 billion threshold, reaching VND38 trillion, an increase of 80 percent. This came from major projects, Times City Park Hill, Vinhomes Nguyen Chi Thanh, Gardenia and the resort villas in Nha Trang and Phu Quoc.

In 2016 alone, Vingroup put 11 commercial centers into operation. Meanwhile, the revenue from retail doubled from VND4.3 trillion to VND8.9 trillion.

As for Vietjet, the private air carrier has been growing well since its establishment. Its total revenue in 2016 was VND27.5 trillion, up by 40 percent, while the pretax profit was VND2.4 trillion, double 2015.

Vietjet had two major sources of income – commercial flights and aircraft sales, each of which brought turnover of VND12 trillion last year.

On February 28, Vietjet listed its shares at the HCMC Stock Exchange. Its capitalization value has reached VND38 trillion, approximately that of Vietnam Airlines, the nation’s flag air carrier.

There is not much information about the operation of Sovico Holdings, Phu Long Real Estate and HD Bank, where Thao also invests.

Phu Long is developing component projects of Dragon City project covering an area of 65 hectares in the southern part of HCMC. Ariyana Real Estate, a subsidiary of Sovico Holdings, is developing Ariyana Beach Resort & Suites in Da Nang City.

Both Vuong and Thao studied at prestigious universities in Moscow, started their business in Russia and became successful businessmen before they returned to Vietnam.