VNG achieves positive performance with surging advertising revenue

VNG Corporation managed to achieve strong performance in the first half of 2018, driven by surging advertising revenue from its digital contents.

VNG’s latest financial statement showed that the company’s total assets have reached over VND4.3 trillion ($184.9 million) in the first six months of 2018, up VND64 billion ($2.8 million) compared to the end of 2017. The company also recorded a VND243 billion ($10.6 million) increase in equity against December 2017.

VNG achieved a net income of VND2.06 trillion ($89.6 million) in the first half of this year, down VND36 billion ($1.57 million) compared to the corresponding period last year. The company has earned VND20 billion ($869,565) from its financial activities. Its after-tax profit reached over VND241 billion ($10.48 million).

The financial statement shows that VNG’s gaming business reported a revenue of VND1.68 trillion ($73.04 million) in the first half of 2018, down from the VND1.77 trillion ($76.96 million) in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, VNG saw a surge in its online advertising revenue, up from VND239 billion ($10.39 million) in the first half of 2017 to VND314 billion ($10.39 million) in the first half of this year. This revenue mainly came from online advertising for key products like Zalo, Zing Mp3, and Zing News.

As VNG is ramping up its expansion in foreign markets like Thailand and Myanmar, the company has incurred higher expenses for operation, HR, marketing, and advertising to promote its products. As a result, it saw a slight decline in profit in the first half of 2018 against the corresponding period last year.

Indeed, the results are in line with VNG’s 2018 business plan as the Board of Directors (BOD) has set lower revenue and profit targets for this year. This is part of VNG’s strategy to boost its overseas expansion as well as develop its core business sectors like e-commerce and mobile payments.

Overall, VNG is among companies reporting healthy performance in Vietnam. As of June 31, the company’s cash and cash equivalents amounted to VND882 billion ($38.35 million), up VND392 billion ($17.04 million) against the end of 2017.

Moreover, VNG has been active in Vietnam’s flourishing e-commerce sector. After Chinese internet giant JD.com invested over $50 million into Tiki at the end of 2017, VNG has poured another VND121.8 billion ($5.3 million) into the e-commerce platform. VNG’s total investment in Tiki stood at VND506.2 billion ($22.01 million) by June 30. Indeed, Tiki’s share value has increased considerably following the investment made by JD.com.

The financial statement also revealed that VNG has held a principal debt of VND249 billion ($10.83 million). At the same time, Tiki repaid VND21.5 billion ($934,78) to VNG. As a result, VNG reported lower short-term receivables in the first half of 2018.

In August, Forbes Vietnam named VNG among the 40 most valuable brands in Vietnam in 2018. Forbes calculated that VNG's brand is worth $42.7 million due to its healthy financial indicators. In 2014, VNG was valued at $1 billion by market research firm World Startup Report in its report on the biggest internet companies in 50 markets with homegrown tech titans. This recognition marks VNG as Vietnam’s first-ever unicorn startup.