SABECO is predicting a bumper year after a successful Q1, despite growing COVID-19 cases in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese brewer’s after-tax profit for Q1 was 986 billion VND (42.8 million USD), increasing 37.5% versus Q1 2020.
For the remainder of the year, the waters seem choppier: Vietnam’s latest wave of COVID threatens SABECO’s prediction of 7% year-on-year growth in annual after-tax profit.
However, a positive omen for the brewery is the success it had navigating the first wave of the pandemic in Vietnam.
SABECO’s after-tax profit in 2020 4,937 billion VND, only 8% down versus 2019 – something the brewery celebrates in their 2020 Annual Report.
Besides Vietnam’s successful early management of COVID keeping the country’s bars and restaurants open, new product launches, including Saigon Chill and Lac Viet, and repackaging of an existing product, Saigon Gold, sustained the brewery’s growth.
Bia Saigon Chill, made with an “exclusive cold filtered technique”, targets the mass premium segment of Vietnamese drinkers.
The new product has a glitzy and modern brand strategy that has been visible to Saigon dwellers outside of lockdown periods (including this writer).
The other new contender in SABECO’s range is Bia Lac Viet, a beer that unashamedly plays on Vietnamese patriotism (“true Vietnamese beer, rising with the country and Vietnamese people”) to target the mainstream segment of drinkers and celebrate the brewery’s 145th anniversary.
Saigon Gold was redesigned and repackaged for a limited edition release for Tet, Vietnamese new year: a crucial period for domestic beer sales as alcohol consumption surges.
SABECO has also made changes in their senior management lineup and likely improve its marketing strategy. The brewery recently appointed seasoned beer marketer Venus Teoh as Deputy General Director in charge of Marketing.
Ms Teoh, who recently completed a year on a “personal pitstop” as a farmer in Malaysia’s Selangor state, had previously been Global Brand Director for Tiger Beer and held roles within Asia Pacific Breweries and Heineken for over a decade.
