Twenty-two listed companies, or 3 per cent of the total listed firms in the securities market, recorded a post-tax profit of more than VND1 trillion (US$44.4 million) each in 2016.

The biggest earners included dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and brewer Sabeco (SAB), who posted net profit of VND9.4 trillion, VND6.6 trillion and VND4.47 trillion, respectively.

The growth of net profit was 21 per cent for Vinamilk, 100 per cent for Hoa Phat Group, and 22 per cent for Sabeco.

Other companies that also posted trillions of dong in net profits included property developer Novaland (NVL), construction group Coteccons (CTD) and Refrigeration Electrical Engineering (REE).

Novaland earned a net profit of VND1.7 trillion, an increase of 274 per cent over a year; Coteccons posted a rise of 94 per cent in its net profit to VND1.4 trillion; and REE was able to increase its net profit by 28 per cent to VND1.1 trillion in 2016.

These companies have also announced their targets for 2017. Vinamilk projects a net profit of VND9.7 trillion, REE has forecast a post-tax profit of VND1.1 trillion, and Novaland sees its post-tax profit rise by nearly 90 per cent to VND3.1 trillion.

The banking sector continued to prove that it is one of the key industries in the economy, with five banks making trillions of dong in net profit, including Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID), MB Bank (MBB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).

A recent report released by Vietnam Report on the 500 biggest Vietnamese companies said that local firms are highly confident of their performance in 2017 as production, income and profit are expected to be better than last year.

Analysts said that more stable macroeconomic conditions would further strengthen the confidence of the local business community, and offer new opportunities and motivations for Vietnamese companies to expand and improve operations. — VNS