Investors have confidence in FPT’s global strategy

At the Q2 meeting with nearly 70 representatives of FPT’s investors held in Hanoi and HCM on August 5^th, Deputy General Director Nguyen The Phuong stated that after the first six months, FPT reached VND 15,211 billion in revenue, up 22% compared to the same period in 2013, completing 107% of the 6-month plan. The software, distribution, retail and telecommunication continued making significant contributions to the growth of the Company.

As the gloomy market, FPT reached VND 1,227 billion in profit-before-tax after 6 months, accounting for 97% of 6-month plan, a decrease of 4% compared to the same period in 2013. Respectively, the Company earned VND 1,040 billion in profit-after-tax, down 2% compared to the same period in 2013. Profit after tax of the holding company was VND 790 billion, d own 2% .

"FPT maintained the basic criteria shown in 6-month results. It was predicted that profits in some business segments would decrease because of the difficulties of the domestic market,” said Mr. Phuong.

On behalf of FPT leaders, Mr. Nguyen The Phuong reported the business results in the first 6 months to the investors.

The investors had a lot of questions about telecom, information system, software and retail.

As usual, the Telecommunication segment especially Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) and television became one of the most hotly-debated topics . According to FPT Telecom CFO Nguyen Thanh Binh, this was the key strategy of the Company from this year to 2015. It was expected that 40% of SWAP in Hanoi and HCMC would be complested by 2014. In addition, the submarine cable route would come into operation in Q2 2015, helping to reduce the fee for international leased line service. "In addition, we continue operational expansion towards communal districts in order to increase the amount of subscribers," said Mr. Binh.

According to FPT CEO Bui Quang Ngoc, the optical fiber campaign along with the television project was the first facility to offer all services on one connection, adding value-added services on more modern infrastructure in order to bring the best values to customers.

"FPT Telecom accepts slower growth to invest in the optical fiber campaign but I believe that Telecommunications will get a launcher back in next 2 years when this is completed. TV segment is very promising to bring about good results in the future," said the representative of VPBank Securities Company Nguyen Huu Toan.

In particular, the intensive report by FPT Retail CEO Nguyen Bach Diep made an impression on the investors. "We open a new shop per week in average. Currently, there are over 130 stores in 62 out of 63 provinces. Hau Giang is the only province that FPT Shop has not yet reached," Mrs. Diep said. She also confirmed that there would be 250 FPT Shops by 2016.

FPT Retail CEO said that the operational expansion still was the direction of the company in the future. Responding to the investors' questions to see if 250 shops was the final figure, she insisted on opening new shops if the chance comes.

Many investors highly appreciated the rise of FPT Retail, the Company gained some impressive results despite remaining relatively young compared with competitors in the market.

In addition, the investors also paid much attention to the M&A deal of FPT Software. FPT CEO focused on the merger of RWE IT Slovakia, a subsidiary of RWE Group Members (gaining up to USD 70 billion in 2013 revenue) and 123Mua.vn the e-commerce site of VNG.

He thought that M&A was an important step to successful global strategy implementation. In addition to M&A, FPT also expanded foreign markets actively via the establishment of FPT in Singapore and steadier penetration to Myanmar, besides such traditional markets as the USA, Europe and Japan.

According to Mr. Ngoc, the global strategy achieved several good results. At present, FPT presented in 19 countries, increasing revenue from foreign markets by 26% compared to 2013. All member companies had global sales while some M & A deals w ere won.

FPT expected that in the last months, the revenue from foreign markets would be improved, as many projects just run in the second half of the year and reach 30% growth rate.

Some investors thought that it would take FPT 3-4 years to create its fame as well as position in overseas markets.

Besides the good business segments, the investors also expressed concerns about the revenue decline of FPT IS. Replying this question, FPT IS CFO Do Son Giang said the decrease was due to less demand from banks with such difficulties as personnel cuts and dissolution risks . However, this customer group geared up for shopping since April, promising prosperity.

According to CEO Bui Quang Ngoc, despite many difficulties in 2014, the segment would go well as the strategy to bring successful solutions and products in Vietnam to the others at similar levels of development such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Laos had some success. Besides, the new form of IT investment had some good signs in the domestic market when FPT won the first contract with VNR.

At the end of the discussion, the investors expressed optimism about the future of FPT. "I believe that the global strategy being pursued by FPT is correct. It is expected to make a greater contribution to FPT’s revenue and profit. In addition to the main segments such as Telecommunications, Software, Integration – System, Retail has good prospects", the representative of Saigon Securities Company – Hanoi Ngo The Hien said.

More information about the investor meeting here.