Many agricultural giants made record profits last year

Last year ended with a bright picture of listed agricultural enterprises. From businesses raising pigs, exporting fruit to processed foods, profits simultaneously set records.

Rising prices create a “falling point” for profits

In the livestock group, Dabaco (DBC) is a prominent case. In 2025, this enterprise will record nearly 14,900 billion VND in net revenue and 1,506.8 billion VND in profit after tax, an increase of nearly 96% compared to the previous year and the highest since its establishment.

According to SSI Research’s livestock industry update report, gross profit margins of large enterprises improved significantly thanks to widening price and selling price differences. However, the analysis team also noted that benefits from the price cycle are not evenly distributed, small-scale businesses are still under pressure from costs and epidemics.

Along with DBC, BAF Vietnam (BAF) recorded the highest profit since listing thanks to expanding the pig herd and perfecting the 3F (Feed – Farm – Food) model. VNDirect assesses that BAF’s advantage lies in its ability to be self-sufficient in its feed and distribution system, thereby reducing its dependence on pure pig price fluctuations.

In the processed meat segment, Masan MEATLife (MML) went through a restructuring period with profit after tax of VND 563 billion, an increase of nearly 25 times compared to the previous year. A report by Vietcombank Securities said that the profit margin of processed meat is higher and more stable than fresh meat, helping business results become less dependent on the pork price cycle.

In general, for the livestock and food group, 2025 is the convergence point between favorable prices and improved management capacity.

Financial restructuring creates leverage

If the price cycle is an external driving force, financial restructuring is an internal driving force that helps some businesses make a stronger breakthrough.

Typically, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) recorded VND 7,440 billion in net revenue and VND 2,243 billion in profit after tax in 2025, double the previous year and the highest ever. Profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company reached 2,126 billion VND.

Share with VnExpressMr. Doan Nguyen Duc said that the parent company no longer has debt, and the bonds are structured and handled properly. The enterprise also paid 700 billion VND for a batch of bonds issued in 2016 and issued 210 million shares to exchange more than 2,500 billion VND of bond debt before maturity.

According to Mirae Asset Vietnam, a sharp reduction in financial leverage is the fundamental factor that helps HAGL’s profits no longer be eroded by interest costs. When financial pressure subsides, the efficiency from the banana and durian segments is reflected more clearly in business results.

GC Foods (GCF) also shows similar trends on a smaller scale. In 2025, net revenue will reach nearly 698 billion VND, profit after tax will be more than 98.5 billion VND, an increase of more than 50% and the highest in history. In the fourth quarter alone, profits increased more than twice over the same period thanks to a 56% decrease in financial costs as debt balance narrowed. At the recent shareholders’ meeting, management emphasized a growth strategy in parallel with financial risk control.

This change shows that the group of listed agricultural enterprises not only benefits from the market, but also proactively cleans up their balance sheets to improve profit quality.

Growth will continue, but no longer uniformly

Although they have not announced detailed business plans, many businesses said they will set profit growth targets compared to the previous year, showing the expectation of maintaining the industry’s positive cycle.

For Hoang Anh Gia Lai, 2026 is considered the year of moving from debt settlement to output expansion. The durian area enters the harvest stage on a larger scale, creating a foundation for increasing revenue and profit margins. In addition, the business is expected to have additional revenue from mulberry trees and about 700 hectares of macadamia trees, helping to diversify the product structure.

Some securities companies believe that when interest costs are no longer a big burden, HAGL’s profit growth in 2026 will depend mainly on durian output and export prices, instead of financial fluctuations like in the previous period.

Reports from Vietcap, MBS and VNDirect also predict that businesses with closed and large-scale chains like BAF will continue to maintain growth thanks to farm expansion and good cost control.

Overall, 2025 will not only be a year of record high profits, but also mark a structural change in the group of listed agricultural enterprises. Entering 2026, the story is no longer about who benefits from commodity prices, but about which businesses have the operating and financial foundation to maintain profitability when the market cycle changes.