Gloomy business quarter of a series of "big guys" Petrolimex, PV Oil, Binh Son

(Dan Tri) - Many "big guys" in the petroleum business recorded first quarter results that were worse than the same period last year. In particular, Petrolimex and PV Oil both "evaporated" more than 80% of their profits compared to the same period last year.

The newly announced Q1/2025 business results reports of a series of large domestic petroleum businesses, namely Vietnam National Petroleum Group - Petrolimex (stock code: PLX) and Vietnam Oil Corporation - PV Oil (stock code: OIL), Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company (stock code: BSR) all recorded poor business results.

Petrolimex, PV Oil "evaporate" more than 80% of profits

Specifically, in the first quarter of the year, Petrolimex recorded VND 67,861 billion in net revenue from selling petroleum and providing related services, down nearly 10% compared to the same period in 2024. Gross profit margin declined sharply, causing the company's gross profit to be only over VND 3,711 billion, down more than 20% compared to the same period in 2024.

In the first 3 months of the year, Petrolimex's financial expenses decreased by more than 36% to more than VND 293 billion, sales expenses increased by nearly 2% to more than VND 3,353 billion, and business management expenses accounted for more than VND 263 billion, up 24% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

After deducting expenses, the net profit in the first 3 months of the year of this petroleum group reached more than 210 billion VND, down more than 81% compared to the same period in 2024. Explaining the declining business results in the first 3 months of the year, the company's board of directors said that the petroleum business faced many difficulties due to global market developments.

Specifically, WTI crude oil prices fell from $77.8/barrel in January to $67.04/barrel at the end of March, due to factors such as tariff policies, OPEC+ production decisions, geopolitical tensions, and the economic situation of major economies. This directly affected the cost of goods sold and led to an increase in inventory write-down provisions at the end of the quarter in accordance with current regulations.

As for PV Oil - the second largest petroleum retailer in the country, in the first 3 months of the year alone, the company recorded more than 32,788 billion VND in net revenue, an increase of more than 10% over the same period last year. In the first quarter of the year, the company's financial expenses recorded a sharp increase of 98% to more than 101 billion VND. Meanwhile, sales and business management expenses decreased by more than 15% and 22% respectively compared to the first quarter of 2024.

As a result, PV Oil's net profit this quarter was recorded at more than VND25 billion, while in the same period last year it was more than VND244 billion, equivalent to a decrease of more than 89% due to fluctuations in oil prices in the first quarter and a decrease in financial revenue and exchange rate difference profits.

Not out of the trend, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company recorded a slight increase in revenue in the first quarter of the year to over VND31,894 billion. However, gross profit decreased by 70% to VND382 billion. After deducting expenses, the company recorded a profit after tax of VND399 billion, down more than 64%.

The company said that in the first quarter of this year, crude oil prices fell sharply from $79.23/barrel to $72.6/barrel, while the same period last year went in the opposite direction. In addition, the gap between crude oil prices and product prices decreased compared to the same period last year, causing first quarter business results to be lower than the same period in 2024.

Tens of thousands of billions of dong deposited in banks

As of March 31, Petrolimex's total assets reached over VND80,035 billion, down slightly by 1.5% compared to the beginning of the year. Of which, short-term assets accounted for over 73%, reaching over VND58,986 billion. Notably, the amount of cash, bank deposits and financial investments of the enterprise reached over VND30,462 billion, up over VND400 billion compared to the beginning of the year.

Of which, non-term bank deposits are VND6,593 billion and over VND18,064 billion are term bank deposits. Petrolimex is also investing VND3,200 billion in bonds and over VND6.6 billion in stocks, and has set aside over VND2.1 billion in provisions.

As for PV Oil, as of March 31, the company's total assets reached more than VND40,308 billion, down slightly by 3% compared to the beginning of the year. Short-term assets reached more than VND34,129 billion. The company's cash, bank deposits and financial investments reached more than VND14,438 billion, down more than VND537 billion compared to the beginning of the year. This "big oil" also has more than VND2,438 billion in bank deposits.

Profits of petroleum enterprises decreased mainly due to fluctuations in world crude oil prices in the first quarter (Photo: Manh Quan).

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company continues to be one of the enterprises with large amounts of cash on the stock exchange. As of the end of March, the enterprise's cash, bank deposits and financial investments reached more than VND37,266 billion, of which VND397 billion was demand deposits and more than VND25,346 billion was term deposits under 3 months. In addition, the company also holds more than VND11,500 billion in term deposits in the form of financial investments until maturity.

According to the first 6 months oil and gas industry analysis report of Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS), oil prices are forecast to decrease in the second quarter. The main reason comes from OPEC+'s plan to increase oil supply from the second quarter, along with the unstable global economic outlook and oil demand from China - the world's largest oil importer - which is forecast to peak.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/quy-kinh-doanh-am-dam-cua-loat-ong-lon-petrolimex-pv-oil-binh-son-20250507230048984.htm