In the first quarter of 2024, Hanoi Railway Transport Joint Stock Company (Haraco, UPCoM: HRT) recorded net revenue of nearly VND 711 billion, up 13% year-on-year and the highest quarterly revenue in nearly 9 years. After deducting the cost of goods sold and expenses, HRT posted after-tax profit of over VND 34 billion, up 87% year-on-year and significantly improved compared to the loss of VND 84 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The company said it has taken many measures to control costs, especially financial expenses, which decreased by 35% year-on-year to VND 9 billion. In addition, other income (asset liquidation) skyrocketed by 612% to nearly VND 17 billion, which were the main reasons for the higher profit.
Similarly, in the first quarter, Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company (UPCoM: SRT) recorded a 13% increase in net revenue to over VND 556 billion, the highest quarterly revenue in nearly 5 years. After-tax profit increased by 25% to nearly VND 33 billion, more positive than the loss of VND 70 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023. This was due to the high demand for passenger travel, especially during and after the Tet holiday in early 2024.
SRT said that after more than 2 months of selling tickets for Tet 2024, the railway has sold a total of over 130,000 tickets and opened an additional 3,000 seats on Tet trains on the North-South route for the first time.
In 2024, the two railway “giants” are both concerned that the economy and people’s income have not recovered, affecting travel demand, and inflation is increasing, pushing up fuel prices. Therefore, HRT and SRT both gave cautious plans with pre-tax profits of over VND 12 billion and nearly VND 11 billion, respectively, down 15% and unchanged from the previous year. Thus, both enterprises exceeded the profit target for the whole year in the first quarter.
Hanoi Railway and Saigon Railway are the two largest members of Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR). Previously, both businesses went through a period of continuous business losses. As of March 31, 2024, HRT‘s accumulated loss was nearly VND 335 billion, while SRT‘s accumulated loss was over VND 348 billion.
