Rong Viet Securities (VDS) Posts Q3 2026 Pre-Tax Loss of VND 105B

Overview

Rong Viet Securities Corporation (ticker VDS, HOSE) reported a pre-tax loss of more than VND 105 billion for Q3 2026, a sharp reversal from a profit of nearly VND 310 billion in the same quarter of 2025. The result marks the first triple-digit-billion-dong loss disclosed by a Vietnamese securities firm this reporting season, and it lands alongside a VND 52 billion pre-tax loss at EVS. The swing is concentrated in proprietary trading and investment revenue rather than core brokerage or margin lending.

Key Facts

• VDS Q3 2026 pre-tax loss: more than VND 105 billion, versus a VND 310 billion pre-tax profit in Q3 2025.
• VDS after-tax result moved from positive VND 249 billion a year earlier to negative VND 83 billion.
• Q3 operating revenue at VDS fell nearly 57% year on year to just over VND 193 billion.
• Investment revenue collapsed roughly 90% to about VND 26.3 billion; brokerage revenue fell 52.6% to VND 39 billion; lending income rose nearly 15% to about VND 124 billion.
• VDS booked more than VND 124.5 billion in portfolio valuation write-downs, against a VND 44 billion reversal in the year-earlier quarter.
• Nine-month 2026 revenue at VDS reached nearly VND 646 billion, down 17%, with a pre-tax loss of more than VND 81 billion versus a VND 318 billion profit a year earlier.
• EVS posted a Q3 pre-tax loss of more than VND 52 billion on revenue of nearly VND 7 billion, down 92% year on year, versus a VND 2.1 billion profit in Q3 2025.

What Happened

According to the Q3 2026 financial statements released as part of the sector’s reporting season, Rong Viet Securities recorded operating revenue of just over VND 193 billion, down almost 57% from the prior-year period. The decline was driven by the investment book, where revenue fell nearly 90% to roughly VND 26.3 billion, and by brokerage, which dropped 52.6% to VND 39 billion. Lending income was the one resilient line, rising almost 15% to about VND 124 billion. The decisive item was a VND 124.5 billion provision for investment portfolio markdowns, reversing a VND 44 billion write-back booked in Q3 2025.

EVS, listed on HNX, reported a similar pattern at a smaller scale. Operating revenue fell 92% year on year to nearly VND 7 billion, with gains from financial assets measured at fair value through profit or loss (FVTPL) dropping to just over VND 4.5 billion from VND 81.2 billion. The firm simultaneously recognised nearly VND 37 billion in FVTPL losses and more than VND 12 billion in management expenses, producing a pre-tax loss of over VND 52 billion. For the nine months, EVS revenue rose more than 41% to nearly VND 296.5 billion but the firm still recorded a pre-tax loss of more than VND 3 billion, against a VND 11.1 billion profit a year earlier. The reports do not disclose the specific securities behind the markdowns.

Market Context

VDS closed at VND 9,900 on 16 October 2026 on HOSE, while EVS closed at VND 5,600 on HNX. Both prints sit in low absolute price territory, consistent with a sector where earnings dispersion has widened sharply: of the ten securities firms that had reported by 17 October, five were profitable and five were loss-making. The common thread across the losers is proprietary trading and FVTPL exposure, which amplified both the 2025 upcycle and the current reversal. NHSV, the unlisted arm of NH Vietnam Bank, showed the opposite profile, with Q3 revenue up 69% to nearly VND 131 billion and pre-tax profit of about VND 31.8 billion, 3.5 times the prior-year figure, driven by lending and held-to-maturity investment income.

Strategic Significance

For long-term holders, the VDS result reframes the firm’s earnings quality. The quarter shows that a meaningful share of the 2025 profit base came from investment gains and valuation reversals rather than recurring brokerage or margin income. Lending revenue, the most annuity-like line, still grew nearly 15% year on year, which suggests the client-financing franchise remains intact even as the proprietary book resets. The strategic question for VDS is whether management shrinks or hedges the self-trading portfolio, or continues to run it at a size that makes quarterly earnings hostage to mark-to-market swings. EVS faces a sharper version of the same problem, with a revenue base thin enough that a single FVTPL loss line can erase the quarter.

What to Watch

• Full Q3 2026 financial statements and any management explanation of the VND 124.5 billion VDS markdown, including which holdings were impaired.
• VDS and EVS Q4 2026 earnings, to test whether the write-downs are a one-off reset or the start of a sustained drag.
• Monthly and quarterly HOSE/HNX trading-value data, which drive brokerage and margin balances into 2027.
• Any shareholder or board disclosure on proprietary-trading limits, capital-raising plans, or margin-lending caps at VDS.
• Further Q3 disclosures from the remaining listed securities firms, to gauge whether the FVTPL losses are sector-wide or issuer-specific.