Beer companies enjoy recovery

Vietnam’s biggest brewer Sabeco saw a year-on-year revenue fall of 21% in the second quarter, smaller than the 47% recorded in the first quarter, according to a recent report from top brokerage SSI Securities Corporation.

Its SAB shares’ prices have risen 66% from the lowest point it had reached this year on March 24 to VND191,500 (US$8.26) Monday.

The SSI analysts expect Sabeco sales to improve in the second half of the year if a nationwide social distancing campaign is not imposed as had happened in April.

They also estimate that Sabeco’s revenues rise 23% over this year to VND33.3 trillion (US$1.4 million) in 2021.

A similar trend can be seen at the Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage Jsc (Habeco), the report said. Its year-on-year revenues fell just 12.9% in the second quarter, compared to 50.6% the previous.

Prices of Habeco’s BHN shares have risen 28% from its bottom on April 8 to VND52,400 (US$2.2) on August 31.

However, the SSI analysts also said that beer consumption in Vietnam will take years to recover to levels recorded before the pandemic and imposition of tougher fines for drunk driving in January this year.

Beer consumption in the first half of this year fell 12.7% year-on-year, according to a report by market research firm Nielsen. However, production in May rose 60% from the monthly average between February and April, it added.

Vietnam consumed more than 4.6 billion liters of beer last year, up 10% from 2018, according to SSI.