VEF (VEFAC) Q3 2026: Revenue Up 67%, Gross Loss, 9-Month Profit Down 94%

Overview

VEFAC (ticker VEF, UPCOM), the exhibition-centre operator and Vingroup subsidiary founded by billionaire Phạm Nhật Vượng, reported Q3/2026 net revenue of nearly VND 77 billion, up 67% year on year, but a gross loss of about VND 27 billion. Nine-month after-tax profit fell roughly 94% to VND 865 billion against a prior-year base lifted by transfers of part of the Vinhomes Global Gate project in Đông Anh, Hà Nội.

Key Facts

• Q3/2026 net revenue: nearly VND 77 billion, up 67% versus Q3/2025.
• Cost of goods sold and services: nearly VND 104 billion, producing a gross loss of about VND 27 billion.
• Fair and exhibition operations generated about VND 64 billion of revenue against VND 89 billion of cost.
• Q3 financial income exceeded VND 388 billion, mainly loan interest and investment returns; financial expenses fell from VND 107 billion to about VND 5 billion.
• Nine-month 2026 net revenue: more than VND 586 billion; after-tax profit: nearly VND 865 billion, versus VND 15,418 billion a year earlier.
• Total assets at 30 September 2026: more than VND 31,905 billion, up 36% since the start of the year; short-term held-to-maturity investments rose from VND 4,129 billion to nearly VND 12,894 billion.
• Short-term customer prepayments rose from VND 411 billion to more than VND 8,373 billion, a roughly 20-fold increase; total liabilities exceeded VND 24,364 billion.

What Happened

In its Q3/2026 financial statements, VEFAC said the quarter’s profit was supported mainly by the transfer of several schools within its project to a partner, which generated a gross gain of about VND 65 billion; no comparable item was recorded in the same period last year. The company’s core exhibition business remained loss-making at the gross level, with cost of sales exceeding revenue in that segment.

The nine-month decline is a base effect rather than an operating collapse. In the first nine months of 2025, VEFAC booked VND 15,418 billion of after-tax profit, driven by the transfer of part of the Vinhomes Global Gate project. The filing also shows the balance sheet shifting toward financial assets: short-term held-to-maturity investments now include loans to corporate partners at 12% per annum, while cash and equivalents fell from nearly VND 579 billion at the start of the year to about VND 41 billion. Construction in progress of VND 4,875 billion is concentrated in three projects: the 148 Giảng Võ commercial, service and cultural complex (VND 3,786 billion), Vinhomes Global Gate (VND 794 billion) and the National Exhibition Centre (VND 272 billion).

Market Context

VEF trades on UPCOM, the least liquid of Vietnam’s three exchanges, and closed at VND 79,200 on 22 October 2026. Parent Vingroup (VIC, HOSE) closed at VND 231 on 23 October, down 0.77% on volume of 383,600 shares. VEF’s earnings are lumpy by design, tied to project transfers rather than recurring exhibition income, so the 94% headline decline reflects the timing of asset sales rather than a deterioration in the underlying real-estate pipeline. The sharp rise in customer prepayments is consistent with the broader Vietnamese residential market, where developers are booking off-plan receipts as buyers return to launched projects.

Strategic Significance

The investment case for VEF rests on the Vinhomes Global Gate masterplan, a site of more than 261 hectares with total investment of nearly VND 34,880 billion, and on the 148 Giảng Võ complex, not on the exhibition business, which currently runs at a gross loss. The 12% partner lending book is the mechanism converting land-bank value into reported financial income between transfer events, and the 20-fold jump in prepayments signals that buyers are committing cash to the project. For long-term holders, the key question is whether VEF can recognise Global Gate revenue on a schedule that smooths the earnings volatility seen between 2025 and 2026.

What to Watch

• Q4/2026 financial statements, expected by end-January 2027, for further project-transfer gains.
• Recognition schedule for the VND 8,373 billion of short-term customer prepayments as revenue.
• Progress and capex deployment at the 148 Giảng Võ complex, where VND 3,786 billion is already capitalised.
• Any change in the 12% per annum partner lending arrangements disclosed in the held-to-maturity portfolio.
• Related-party transactions with Vingroup (VIC) and disclosure of further land or school transfers within Global Gate.