Vietnam SSC Fines DQC, C32, ST8, NRC for Misstated 2025 Profits

Overview

The State Securities Commission (SSC) fined four listed companies — Tập đoàn Điện Quang (HOSE: DQC), Đầu tư và Xây dựng 3-2 (HOSE: C32), Tập đoàn ST8 (HOSE: ST8) and Bất động sản Quốc gia (HNX: NRC) — a combined VND 550 million for publishing materially misstated 2025 profit figures. A fifth firm, Đầu tư Xây dựng và Vật liệu Đồng Nai (UPCoM: DND), was fined VND 175 million for related-party transaction disclosure errors. The penalties, announced on 9 September, mark a visible tightening of disclosure discipline across the Vietnamese market.

Key Facts

• DQC fined VND 150 million: self-prepared Q4/2025 consolidated net profit of over VND 11.5 billion versus VND 4.9 billion audited, a 58% gap.
• C32 fined VND 150 million: self-prepared consolidated net profit of VND 39.4 billion versus VND 26.3 billion audited.
• ST8 fined VND 150 million: self-prepared 2025 net profit of VND 90.3 billion versus an audited net loss of more than VND 8 billion.
• NRC fined VND 100 million: self-prepared net profit of VND 35.5 billion versus VND 6.7 billion audited, a gap of more than 81%.
• DND fined VND 175 million for misstating related-party transactions with CTCP Xây dựng Đồng Nai, CTCP Môi trường Sonadezi and CTCP Cấp Nước Đồng Nai in its 2025 governance report.
• All four profit-misstatement cases carry a mandatory obligation to cancel or correct the false information already released to the market.
• The applicable fine band under Nghị định 156/2020/NĐ-CP, as amended by Nghị định 128/2021/NĐ-CP and Nghị định 306/2025/NĐ-CP, is VND 100-200 million.

What Happened

On 9 September, the SSC’s inspectorate issued an administrative penalty decision against Điện Quang Group for publishing misleading profit information. The company’s self-prepared Q4/2025 consolidated financial statements reported after-tax profit of more than VND 11.5 billion for the year, while the audited 2025 statements showed VND 4.9 billion — a 58% discrepancy. Điện Quang must pay VND 150 million and correct or withdraw the false disclosure.

Đầu tư và Xây dựng 3-2 received an identical VND 150 million penalty one day earlier, with self-prepared consolidated profit of VND 39.4 billion falling to VND 26.3 billion on audit. The most severe divergence was at Tập đoàn ST8, where a self-reported VND 90.3 billion profit turned into an audited loss of more than VND 8 billion. Bất động sản Quốc gia, listed on HNX, saw VND 35.5 billion of self-prepared profit shrink to nearly VND 6.7 billion. Separately, Đồng Nai-based DND was fined VND 175 million over related-party transaction figures in its 2025 governance report that diverged from its financial statements.

Market Context

DQC last closed at VND 9,660 on HOSE, C32 at VND 16,900, NRC at VND 4,600 on HNX and ST8 at VND 2,040 on HOSE, all as of 9 September. The four profit cases are the first of their kind this year, beginning in August-September, and the SSC notes that not every self-prepared versus audited gap triggers a fine — PNJ, Nhà Thủ Đức and Vinaconex have shown differences without penalties. The distinction appears to rest on materiality and whether the disclosure was misleading rather than merely revised.

Strategic Significance

For long-term investors, the enforcement pattern reframes unaudited quarterly filings as a risk signal rather than a reliable earnings indicator, particularly for small- and mid-cap names where audit adjustments have proven largest. ST8’s swing from a VND 90.3 billion profit to a loss is the clearest illustration that self-prepared numbers can invert the investment case entirely. The DND case extends the same logic to related-party disclosures, meaning governance reports now carry comparable enforcement weight to financial statements.

What to Watch

• Whether DQC, C32, ST8 and NRC publish corrected disclosures and restated figures within the SSC-mandated timeframe.
• Audited 2026 interim and annual reports for the four tickers, to test whether the reporting gap narrows.
• Any further SSC penalty decisions naming additional issuers, given the inspectorate’s stated focus on bond proceeds and related-party disclosures.
• DND’s corrected 2025 governance report and any restatement of related-party transaction values.
• Trading liquidity and foreign-ownership filings in DQC, C32, ST8 and NRC following the penalty announcements.