Speaking at the meeting, Kido Foods chairman Tran Kim Thanh said that apart from a fourfold increase in pretax profit, the firm made VND601 billion in revenue in the five-month period, representing 41% of its full-year target.

With the strong growth seen in the first few months, the firm is expected to generate revenue of VND1.46 trillion and pretax profit of VND150 billion this year, up 16.3% and 376% against 2018, respectively.

The strong performance was attributed to the high growth of its ice-cream business, which accounted for 82% of the total revenue.

Forecasting for the 2019 economy, Thanh pointed out that Vietnam’s economy still faces multiple potential risks, such as the fallout from the electricity price hike of 8.6%, the increase in the basic salary by 7.2% next month and the predicted rise in the fuel price index by 8.1-9.5%.

Thanh, however, said the firm will have great success this year due to its growth strategy including focusing on key products in the ice-cream sector, enhancing the development of high-end products and improving the quality of products based on customer tastes.

Further, the ice-cream sector is projected to grow by 7% a year on average in the 2017-2022 period, smoothing the path for Kido Foods and domestic firms to gain stronger growth.

With this positive picture of growth, Kido Foods has decided to pay a dividend of 14%, instead of 12%, as set previously.

If its business operations run smoothly this year, Kido Foods will move from the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) to the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, Thanh said.

Last year saw domestic ice-cream firms struggling to compete with foreign ice-cream brands. The fierce competition dropped Kido Foods’ revenue in 2018 to VND1.2 trillion, with after-tax profit reaching VND27.4 billion.