Masan’s consolidated revenue grew slightly to VND18.85 trillion ($743.37 million) in Q1, but a strong performance of its consumer-retail business units was offset by an underperformance at Masan High-tech Materials (MHT). Net profit after tax post minority interest (NPAT Post-MI) showed positive momentum, doubling compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

The CrownX (TCX), Masan’s integrated consumer-retail platform that consolidates WinCommerce (WCM) and Masan Consumer Holdings (MCH), recorded top-line growth of 6.4 per cent on-year to VND14.15 trillion ($558 million) in Q1.

Maintaining a healthy level of stock among distributors, MCH continued to grow its top line while sustaining high profitability margins in Q1. Specifically, MCH's net revenue delivered growth of 7.4 per cent on-year to VND6.73 trillion ($265.4 million). Convenience foods, beverages, and home personal care also grew 10.3 per cent, 23.4 per cent, and 15.2 per cent, respectively.

MCH’s gross margin remained at 45.9 per cent in Q1, up 400 basis points (bps) on-year. MCH’s NPAT Pre-MI increased by 31.5 per cent to VND1.5 trillion ($59.15 million) from VND1.14 trillion ($44.9 million) in Q1/2023.

The newly launched BupNon Tea365 demonstrated an initial positive performance. Launched in November 2023, the product recorded VND106 billion ($4.2 million) in revenue in Q1, while achieving a retailer repurchase rate of nearly 60 per cent.

Meanwhile, WCM’s net revenue witnessed a 8.5 per cent on-year increase to VND7.96 trillion ($313.8 million) from VND7.34 trillion ($289.5 million) in Q1/2023. This growth in net revenue was driven by net new store openings and store ramp-ups from the previous year.

WCM recorded a 200 bps on-year improvement in gross margin to 24.1 per cent from 22.1 per cent in 1Q2023, driven by enhanced total commercial margins (TCM) and improved shrinkage cost management. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin increased by 210bps, reaching 3.1 per cent compared to 1.0 per cent in Q1/2023.

Masan MEATLife’s (MML) revenue climbed to VND1.72 trillion ($67.5 million) in Q1, a 7.5 per cent increase from the same period last year. This growth was attributed to the growth in its branded pork segment and pork farm operations, which grew by 23 per cent on-year in total, offsetting declines in the poultry segment.

MML's gross profit margin surged from 11.7 per cent in Q1/2023 to 23.3 per cent in Q1/2024, primarily driven by higher prices for pork and poultry. Pork prices reached approximately VND60,000 ($2.37) per kg in March, while chicken prices were VND34,400 ($1.37) per kg in the north and VND36,800 ($1.45) per kg in the south. Although processed meat revenue slightly decreased on-year, gross margins improved significantly from 26.4 per cent in Q1/2023 to 35.7 per cent in Q1/2024. MML’s EBITDA margin rose from 1.7 per cent to 7.2 per cent.

Techcombank (TCB), Masan’s associated company, contributed VND1.23 trillion ($48.5 million) in EBITDA in Q1, representing a 27.9 per cent on-year growth.