Mr. Tran Dinh Long: Hoa Phat has never been afraid of competition, reciprocal tax does not have much impact

Sharing with more than 1,000 shareholders on the morning of April 17, Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group, said that the group's first quarter profit reached 3,300 billion, everything is going very well, the group is ready to participate in large projects such as high-speed railway. The imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the United States does not affect the business much because the export ratio only accounts for about 1%.

Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group answered questions from shareholders.

Hot with profit sharing, difficult to deal with?

How to reasonably distribute the group's annual profits, does the group plan to adjust its business plan due to the impact of the US tax imposition; does the group need to allocate a few percent of its after-tax profits to establish an investment fund to encourage creative startups in the spirit of Resolution 57, the payback period of the high-speed railway project, etc. These are questions that many shareholders asked the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat at the general meeting of shareholders held on the morning of April 17.

“How is Hoa Phat preparing when exports are forecast to face difficulties and there are very large domestic orders for the railway project connecting Lao Cai - Hai Phong and the project that Vingroup is doing in Can Gio. The Lao Cai - Hai Phong project has Chinese capital and can Hoa Phat participate?”, a shareholder asked Hoa Phat Chairman Tran Dinh Long.

Hoa Phat's revenue and assets over the years

Shareholders also raised many questions related to Hoa Phat's plan to adjust its business plan, expanding to multi-industry investment instead of focusing on core areas. The change in plan, not paying cash in 2025 is to prepare for the worst case scenario and the group needs to increase cash payment to 15%, instead of paying 100% in shares in the coming years when the business situation improves... Many shareholders also questioned the group's response related to HRC being imposed with high anti-dumping tax and affecting the group's export situation in the coming period.

Information related to the Yen My Industrial Park expansion project, the cow breeding project in Thai Binh , the group's social housing project in Hung Yen, and the railway construction project are also hot issues that investors are interested in and raise with the Chairman of Hoa Phat.

Responding to shareholders' concerns, Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group, said that the US's imposition of reciprocal tariffs on Vietnam has had an impact on the Vietnamese stock market in recent days. He said that in the future, the world situation will be very volatile, not knowing what will happen? For Hoa Phat, the spirit is to always be well prepared and very careful. If Vietnam negotiates well and is not taxed, the economy will grow, but at this time, 'gentlemen must be on guard', how to have sustainable development. In 2025, Hoa Phat has done many great things. The first is to complete phase 1 of the Dung Quat 2 project and have released products. The second big thing that Mr. Long also mentioned was that many shareholders last year raised questions about Chinese steel flooding into Vietnam, but the situation is still stable. “We have boldly discussed, exchanged and set a target of VND170,000 billion in revenue and VND15,000 billion in after-tax profit in 2025. In the first quarter of 2025, the group achieved after-tax profit of VND3,300 billion. Currently, Hoa Phat has become a large company in the steel industry with nearly 164,000 shareholders. This is the largest number of company shareholders on the Vietnamese stock market and the first time such a large number of shareholders has been recorded. The company has become a national company, the responsibility is very heavy,” he said.

Hoa Phat's exports to the US only account for 1% of its export structure, so there is no concern about the impact of reciprocal taxes.

Regarding the opportunity to participate in the North-South high-speed railway project, urban railway, Lao Cai - Hai Phong railway, Mr. Long said that in the meeting in September 2024 when the Prime Minister invited large enterprises to do it, Hoa Phat accepted and was assigned the task afterwards. Hoa Phat does not make locomotives or carriages but will provide steel and materials for other enterprises to do it. According to calculations, the total amount of steel needed for railway projects is currently about 10 million tons, but this number is not fixed and fluctuates very quickly because new projects are being implemented.

“We have a railway production project with a total investment of 14,000 billion VND in Dung Quat 2. With tradition and determination, Hoa Phat is confident that it will be able to produce high-quality steel for high-speed railways, steel for tunnels, bridges, high-quality steel for processing and manufacturing. Specific projects such as Saigon - Can Gio, Lao Cai - Hai Phong railway project... Hoa Phat will participate,” Mr. Long shared. He also said that in addition to Hoa Phat's determination, last week the Ministry of Construction submitted to the Government a Decree assigning tasks to large enterprises, including Hoa Phat, to participate. This is very good news. Hoa Phat has contacted other domestic units such as Thaco, the Railway Corporation to make related products, serving the economic development and national defense of the country. “This Monday, I will sign a strategic cooperation with the National Energy Industry Group to supply steel for wind power and energy projects,” he revealed.

Hoa Phat has never been afraid of competition, reciprocal taxes do not have much impact

Regarding concerns about the impact of US tariffs on profits in 2025, Mr. Long said that the group set a very high target, but this is a goal to strive for, a driving force, and the group has not adjusted anything, still working normally even though the growth and profit each quarter from now until the end of the year are very high.

“The good news is that after we announced that we would not pay cash dividends, we received support from the market and shareholders. We don’t know what will happen in the remaining three quarters, but we are committed that if there is nothing special, from 2026 onwards, Hoa Phat will pay cash dividends as usual. That is the tradition of the group,” said Mr. Long.

Regarding concerns about cheap Chinese steel entering Vietnam, the Chairman of Hoa Phat affirmed that it is not worth worrying about. At this time last year, many shareholders were also concerned about this and up to now, the group's steel production orders have all been sold out. Even the project in Dung Quat 2 has recorded revenue and profit since March. Regarding the impacts of US tariffs, the Chairman of Hoa Phat affirmed that the group's viewpoint is not to focus too much on exports. "Hoa Phat has never been afraid, has never been afraid of competition, the nerve of fear has been broken for a long time. With the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the US, I have always directed not to let too much be exported, so now I still feel that I am always right. The group's production and business always put the interests of shareholders first," Mr. Long emphasized.

Answering questions related to the group's business and real estate investment activities, according to Mr. Long, the group's viewpoint on real estate projects and industrial real estate has always been to keep the proportion from only 5 - 7%. This is a fairly safe level. Regarding social housing projects, Hoa Phat believes that this is a field with very good output and the group is moving in this direction. The group is working on a project in Yen My,

Regarding concerns that the tax will affect the exchange rate and business operations, Mr. Nguyen Viet Thang, General Director of Hoa Phat, said that no one can predict the USD exchange rate. If after 90 days, the implementation of the tax policy takes place, it will affect the operations of businesses. Currently, Hoa Phat has 31% of exports and is divided into 40 countries around the world. Many businesses export to the United States, accounting for 40-60%, while Hoa Phat exports to the United States, accounting for only 1%, so when there are fluctuations, dividing the market will help reduce the impact a lot. To cope with exchange rate fluctuations, Mr. Thang said that the group will have hedging measures to insure the exchange rate. "The increase in exchange rate will affect the selling price. How the increase in cost and how it is included in the selling price will depend on the endurance of the economy and the management of the Government," Mr. Thang said.

“For the first time, the Central Executive Committee considers private enterprises as the main driving force for development. This is a great driving force, a premise for the brilliant and brilliant development of Hoa Phat. The Creative Startup Support Fund under Resolution 57 is a major policy. The Group is a large enterprise, when there is a specific implementation policy of the Party and the Government and guidance, the Group will implement it. With the Group's tradition of constant innovation, Hoa Phat is ready to participate”, said Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/ong-tran-dinh-long-hoa-phat-chua-tung-so-canh-tranh-thue-doi-ung-khong-anh-huong-nhieu-post1734467.tpo