The companies have recorded a combined total post-tax profit of nearly VND127.53 trillion (US$5.45 billion), a year-on-year increase of 19.2 per cent.

According to Forbes Vietnam’s seventh list of the country's top companies, the group of leading companies has shown impressive growth. For three consecutive years, Vinamilk led the market in terms of profitability, but this time Vietcombank surpassed the dairy company, becoming the champion in post-tax profit with growth rate of 60 per cent.

Forbes Vietnam also noted the growth of private enterprises. Vingroup’s Vinhomes ranks second in the market in term of post-tax profit and is one of four companies with market capitalisation exceeding $10 billion.

For the first time, Hoa Phat rose into the top five listed companies in term of profits. Newly listed bank Techcombank ranked second in post-tax profit and sixth in the stock market.

Many companies on the list operate in the real estate-construction, logistics, financial services, retail and building materials sectors.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HSX) dominated the list as it is home to 45 of the 50 listings, leaving the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) with five. There were 13 changes to the list from last year with 11 firms making their first appearance and two companies coming back on to the list.

In the second half of 2018 and early this year, Viet Nam’s stock market did not have many big initial public offerings (IPOs), excluding Vietnam Airlines and PetroVietnam Power Corporation moving to the HSX from Upcom.

Forbes Vietnam applies company ranking methods from Forbes (an American business magazine), taking into consideration the characteristics of the listed businesses. The assessment is based on financial statements audited over five consecutive years from 2014 to 2018 and firms’ mid-May market capitalisation figures. — VNS