Pre-tax profit in 2023 of Education Publishing House reached 344 billion VND, an average daily profit of more than 942 million, down 7.5% over the same period.
The financial report of Vietnam Education Publishing Company Limited shows that net revenue increased by 14% to more than 2,716 billion VND. This is a record high for the company since it announced information in 2015. Last year, this unit published more than 300 million books, accounting for about 60% of the total number of books nationwide.
Minus the cost of sales, the company’s gross profit is more than 775 billion VND. They have a gross profit margin of 28.5%.
Financial revenue decreased slightly, while financial costs increased 46% to nearly 56 billion VND, mainly interest. Education Publishing House has more than 51 billion VND in loans and financial lease debt. The company does not provide a description to indicate who the creditors are.
Selling expenses this period increased by 51%, to nearly 215 billion VND; while corporate management decreased slightly.
In total, Education Publishing House has more than 344 billion VND in pre-tax profit, equivalent to a daily profit of over 942 million VND. This is a decrease of 7.5% compared to 2022. This is the second highest profit since the business announced the information.
The business results of Vietnam Education Publishing House tend to increase with textbook prices. The publisher’s leader once explained that prices are high because costs increase in four factors: the number of books in a series, costs for manuscripts, supplies and marketing.
For decades, this business has had the monopoly on publishing textbooks for students. At the end of 2022, the Government Inspectorate determined that Vietnam Education Publishing House had abused its dominant market position and monopoly to register “unreasonably high” textbook prices.
According to the provisions of the 2012 Price Law, textbooks are not on the list of items priced by the State, but businesses declare them to the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Education and Training assesses that this may lead to the phenomenon of different high and low prices. Meanwhile, textbooks belong to the group of essential educational supplies for students; affecting social security, especially people in disadvantaged areas.
Some books belong to “Connecting knowledge to life” and “Creative horizons” – two of three textbook sets included in the high school curriculum. Image: Vietnam Education Publishing House
Recently, this publisher reduced the price of reprinted books (except grades 5, 9 and 12) for the 2024-2025 school year. The cover price of the “Connecting knowledge with life” set will decrease by 9.6%, while the “Creative Horizon” set will decrease by 11.2%. These are textbooks compiled, printed and published by this publisher. For first-edition books for grades 5, 9 and 12, the selling price is based on the discount of reprinted books.
Vietnam Education Publishing Company Limited has a charter capital of 596 billion VND, operating under the model of a one-member limited liability company owned 100% by the State. By the end of last year, total assets reached nearly 1,287 billion VND.
According to regulations, this unit must periodically publish information including semi-annual and full-year financial reports and salary and bonus regimes. However, this unit is often late and does not even periodically publish information about development strategies, investment plans, and financial reports.