A number of businesses have released their financial reports for the third quarter of the year. 

Kien Giang Construction Investment Consultancy Group (CIC Group) has made public an audited biannual report that shows a sharp fall in profit. The shares of the company were put under special control on October 12. However, the managers of the real estate firms still pocketed big money.

The pay to president Tran Tho Thang was VND1.4  billion a month for the first six months. The income was lower than the VND9.7 billion he received the same period last year, but it was 300 times higher than the income of the remaining members.

CIC Group is known as the developer of many big projects, including Tay Bac Urban Area, Nam An Hoa project and Vinh Hang Flower Garden Cemetery. The profit decrease was attributed to high capital costs, a weak real estate market and provisioning against risks for accounts receivables.

The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World) reported a sharp profit decrease of 96 percent to VND39 billion in the third quarter (its capitalization value is over VND55 trillion). President Nguyen Duc Tai, Member of the Board of Directors Doan Van Hieu Em and CEO Tran Huy Thanh Tung did not receive wages for the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Robert Willett, another member, received wage of VND1 billion. The total income from salaries of high ranking officers at MWG was VND3.6 billion, lower than the VND8.5 billion in 2022 and VND10 trillion in previous years.

In the third quarter, the profit of Phat Dat Real Estate dropped by 86 percent, but president Nguyen Van Dat still received a salary of VND500 million, though the figure was 80 percent lower than the same period last year.

The real estate market remains lackluster with real estate firms having to restructure their debts after the crisis in the bond market. Phat Dat has approval from SSC to issue 67 million private shares to mobilize VND672 billion to make payments for the principal and interest of the bonds it issued in 2021-2022.

In the first nine months of the year, Phat Dat spent VND1.5 trillion to redeem severao lots of bonds.

Though 2022 was a tough year for businesses, managers of many companies still had income of billions of dong a month. VinCom Retail CEO Tran Mai Hoa received VND1 billion a month, while Vinamilk CEO Mai Kieu Lien got VND540 million.

In 2021, seven members of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group received VND118 billion, or VND1.4 billion per person per month.

Meanwhile, many CEOs accepted no salary as their business performance was poor and incurred big losses.

In 2021, every member of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group got VND1.4 billion a month. But in 2022, all members of the board, including president Tran Dinh Long, refused wages.

Hoa Phat reported a record high loss of VND2 trillion in the fourth quarter 2022, which forced the profits of 2022 down to VND8.4 trillion, or just 24 percent of the year before. Last year was the first year HoaPhat failed to implement its business plan.

After taking office as president of Coteccons in late 2020, Bolat Duisenov committed to receive a salary of only one dollar until the company’s situation improved. Since then, the enterprise has been facing difficulties and share price decreases.

Even when businesses perform well, owners of many large corporations have not received wages in the last several years. Vingroup President Pham Nhat Vuong, FPT President Truong Gia Binh and Ban Viet Securities’ President Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong are among them.

Over the last decade, Phuong has received zero dong. Masan Group’s President Nguyen Dang Quang and members of the board of directors have not received wages since 2013, despite impressive business results.

Business owners have other sources of income which can bring income much higher than wages. As major shareholders, they can receive tens or hundreds of billions of dong a year from dividends.

Manh Ha