The Mobile World (MWG) Reaps Rewards with its Indonesia Expansion

According to the Q3/2024 financial statements, Mobile World Investment Joint Stock Company (code: MWG) recorded a profit of approximately VND 148 million from its joint venture, PT Era Blu Elektronik (EraBlue), in Q3. This helped reduce the accumulated loss from the beginning of the year to over VND 47 billion. As of September 30, 2024, the fair value of this investment was nearly VND 240 billion.

MWG currently holds a 45% stake in the joint venture. It is estimated that the electronics chain in Indonesia made a profit of about VND 328 million in Q3 of this year.

Thus, after more than two years of investing in the Indonesian market, Mobile World Investment JSC has finally borne fruit. Earlier in October, Mr. Doan Van Hieu Em, a member of MWG’s Board of Directors, also shared on his personal Facebook page that EraBlue had achieved its goal of “bringing money back to mother” for six consecutive months, awaiting the Q3/2024 detailed report for more positive news.

EraBlue is MWG’s new experiment in the foreign market since 2022, mainly engaged in the business of retail sales of mobile devices, electronics, home appliances, and other equipment in Indonesia. Era Blue is a joint venture established by a Vietnamese company and PT Erafone Artha Retailindo (Erafone), a subsidiary of the Erajaya Group.

EraBlue is designed as a chain of consumer electronics stores, leveraging the experience gained from Dien May Xanh in Vietnam, with the ambition to become a leading electronics retailer in Indonesia.

Despite still incurring losses of tens of billions of dong, MWG’s management remains confident about the performance of its “studying abroad” venture, EraBlue. At the investor meeting in Q1/2024 in May, Mr. Doan Van Hieu Em stated that EraBlue’s losses were within the plan, and the chain was expected to break even or even turn profitable from Q4/2024.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Tai, Chairman of MWG’s Board of Directors, also shared: “The performance of the EraBlue chain has exceeded my personal expectations. Indonesia presents unique challenges, but the management and personnel in charge of EraBlue have done an excellent job. I anticipate that we will reach the break-even point by the latest in Q4, which is also a crucial goal for this electronics chain this year.”

In 2024, EraBlue plans to expand but not exceed 100 stores. Next year, the chain may start accelerating its growth towards the goal of having 500 stores by 2027. As of the end of September 2024, the electronics chain in the Indonesian market continued to expand, with 76 sales points, doubling the number of stores compared to the previous year.

EraBlue still has considerable growth potential. In a recently published report, Dragon Capital Securities Company (VDSC) stated that this “overseas expansion” named EraBlue, targeting the Indonesian electronics market, is more reasonable than previous international ventures. This is because the Indonesian market is at a tipping point for explosive growth and has a much larger potential market size.