From a 'big guy' in the garment industry, Garmex Saigon now relies on the pickleball court

Once a big name in the garment industry, Garmex Saigon now only maintains operations thanks to revenue from pickleball courts, averaging less than 5 million VND/day.

Workers during the period of stable business operations - Photo: Garmex Saigon Website

The third quarter financial report of Garmex Saigon Joint Stock Company (GMC) recorded revenue of more than 452 million VND, an increase of nearly 4 times compared to the same period last year.

The majority of revenue does not come from garment operations - a field that used to be the company's strength. The report shows that revenue mainly comes from Vinaprint Joint Stock Company, the partner renting the space for pickleball courts, accounting for about 63.5%.

Revenue from the sale of pharmaceuticals, medicines and medical equipment contributed nearly 18%, while other services accounted for more than 17%. In contrast, the sale of goods and finished products - the core segment before - only brought in 5.4 million VND, equivalent to more than 1% of total revenue.

On average, each day in the third quarter, Garmex Saigon only generated less than 5 million VND in revenue, of which more than 3 million VND came from renting pickleball courts.

After deducting the cost of goods sold, the company had a gross profit of more than VND390 million, 3.6 times higher than the same period last year. GMC also earned more than VND1 billion in financial revenue from interest on deposits and exchange rate differences, with bank deposits of nearly VND72 billion.

However, the company has to set aside more than VND907 million in financial expenses to reserve for investments. GMC is currently investing in Vietcombank (VCB), VietABank (VAB) and Gia Dinh Development Investment Company (GDI), of which VAB is the most "burdensome" investment, having to set aside more than VND1 billion, equivalent to 27% of the original value.

Although there were no sales costs, business management costs still amounted to more than 7 billion VND, down 27% over the same period but 15.5 times higher than revenue.

As a result, Garmex Saigon lost nearly VND6.5 billion, an improvement of more than 25% compared to last year but still the 6th consecutive quarter of losses. Accumulated losses by the end of September exceeded nearly VND125 billion.

The management explained that the company had no orders for garment manufacturing, and revenue from business cooperation and pharmaceuticals was only symbolic.

Meanwhile, GMC still has to maintain a number of warehouse and indirect staff to serve the management work, resulting in costs of salaries, depreciation, land rent, environment and security services. Therefore, revenue is not enough to cover costs, causing the company to continue to lose money.

How is Garmex Saigon stock?

Established in 1976, Garmex Saigon was once one of the leading garment enterprises, with a revenue of thousands of billions of VND in the period 2012 - 2021. At one point, the company owned 5 factories in Ho Chi Minh City and Quang Nam , with more than 70 production lines.

However, at the end of 2022, major partner Gilimex - a key customer - had its production suddenly cut by Amazon Robotics LLC. The large investment in facilities and inventory caused Garmex Saigon's operations to plummet.

Currently, finished product inventory is still nearly 86 billion VND, of which 15 billion VND must be set aside for price reduction provisions.

Since May 2023, the company has temporarily suspended production and laid off thousands of workers due to lack of orders. From a peak of about 4,000 employees, by the end of September 2025, Garmex Saigon had only 29 people left.

In the coming time, the company said it will continue to cut costs, liquidate unused assets, and accelerate the Phu My housing project to recover capital. GMC also plans to exploit existing premises and research new investment industries in line with trends.

On the stock market, GMC shares were forced to be delisted by HoSE at the end of 2024, then transferred to UPCoM but are still subject to trading restrictions, only being bought and sold every Friday.

From a peak of more than VND 28,000/share in 2021, this code is now only more than VND 5,000.

LINH NGUYEN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tu-ong-lon-nganh-may-gio-garmex-sai-gon-trong-cay-vao-san-pickleball-2025103019203017.htm