Hanoi Vodka producer reports fifth consecutive losing year

The manufacturer of Hanoi Vodka said last year’s performance took accumulated post-tax losses to over VND400 billion ($17.23 million), nearly reaching Halico’s total assets value, which came to VND433.46 billion ($18.67 million) by 2019-end.

Revenue for 2019 had also fallen 4.2 percent year-on-year to VND144.49 billion ($6.22 million), according to the company’s fourth quarter financial statement.

However, in this period, Halico made a post-tax loss of over VND8 billion ($344,686), down significantly from the VND21 billion ($904,800) loss in 2018’s fourth quarter. This was mainly due to the company cutting down production, with cost of sales down 33 percent year-on-year, and management costs down 67 percent.

Halico’s management did not provide an explanation for the continued losses in its latest report, but did mention in its bi-annual report released in July this year that the company’s sales have been decreasing as Vietnamese consumer tastes shift to imported beer and foreign liquor.

They also admitted that Halico had failed to capture younger consumer segments, while low demand means production is much below capacity and production costs per unit is high.

Halico was originally a Hanoi winery founded in 1898 and equitized in 2004 with charter capital of nearly VND50 billion ($2.15 million).

Vietnam's second largest brewery Habeco has a 54.29 percent stake in Halico while Diageo, the world’s biggest liquor company, sporting famous brands such as Johnnie Walker, Baileys and Smirnoff, owns 45.5 percent.