Chinese car sales tycoon faces difficulties, losing more than 1,800 billion VND

The tycoon is focusing on the auto business and Chinese car lines but is still facing many difficulties.

Accumulated losses, debt skyrocketed

Tasco Auto JSC - the owner of a large automobile distribution network and also the unit selling Geely and Lynk & Co (China) brand cars in Vietnam, has just announced its financial report for the first 6 months of 2025 with not very positive figures.

According to the financial report for the first half of 2025, Tasco Auto recorded a sharp decrease in equity from nearly VND 7,500 billion in mid-2024 to VND 6,830 billion by the end of June 2025. Accumulated losses increased from more than VND 1,455 billion to nearly VND 1,824 billion.

A notable point is that total liabilities increased sharply from nearly 7,523 billion VND to more than 11,278 billion VND. Of which, loans and other financial leasing debts increased from more than 362 billion VND to more than 4,179 billion VND.

In the first half of 2025, Tasco Auto recorded a profit after tax of less than 4.9 billion VND, but it was more positive than the loss of more than 80 billion VND in the same period last year.

Tasco Auto's main business lines are real estate trading, retail and automobile distribution. This is a subsidiary of Tasco Corporation (HNX: HUT).

Tasco Auto accumulated loss of nearly 1,824 billion VND. Source: Financial statements

According to the report, in the first 6 months of this year, HUT lent Tasco Auto more than VND 869 billion and earned more than VND 77 billion in interest. As of the end of June 2025, HUT still had VND 1,671 billion in receivables from short-term loans to Tasco Auto.

According to the introduction, Tasco Auto is a large car distributor in Vietnam, with more than 13.7% market share in 2024 (sales of more than 40,555 vehicles) and 16 car brands, owning a system of 108 showrooms across the country. The company has 8,000 employees and 80 member units.

Tasco Auto aims to develop into 180 showrooms by 2025, and is the largest distributor of Toyota, Ford and distributes luxury car brand Volvo in Vietnam.

In 2024, Lynk & Co (a subsidiary of Geely, China) will operate in Vietnam for the first time with 6 specialized showrooms and take advantage of Tasco Auto's showroom system to expand its market share.

Previously, in September 2024, Tasco and Geely signed a joint venture contract to assemble and distribute cars in Vietnam, building a car assembly plant in Thai Binh , with a total investment of about 168 million USD, phase 1 capacity reaching 75,000 cars/year.

The factory is expected to start construction in the first half of 2025 and deliver the first models to customers in early 2026. However, to date, there has been no information about the factory's groundbreaking.

Tasco Auto sells Chinese Geely cars. Photo: TC

Waiting to sell Chinese cars

Tasco is waiting for Geely's new move on the Geely car assembly plant in Thai Binh. Geely is the second largest car manufacturer in China. Tasco believes that in the next 20 years, China will be the country that plays a leading role in the global auto industry thanks to its increasingly clear competitive advantages in technology, production scale and supply chain.

Tasco Auto is not yet listed. However, Savico (SVC) - a subsidiary in which Tasco holds more than 96% of capital - has been listed for a long time.

SVC shares have recently increased sharply, with information about a 40% stock dividend. In the last 10 sessions, SVC shares have increased 9 sessions, of which the last 3 sessions have increased to the ceiling price of 33,650 VND/share - the highest level in over 2 years.

HUT recorded a large short-term loan receivable with Tasco Auto.

In early September, Tasco Joint Stock Company (HUT) - chaired by Mr. Vu Dinh Do, announced information about VII Holding Joint Stock Company (VII Holding) about the transaction to own 30% of Tasco's shares, equivalent to more than 320 million HUT shares, worth about 6,000 billion VND. Mr. Vu Dinh Do is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors and legal representative of VII Holding.

In Tasco's ecosystem, there is also VETC - the investor of the non-stop toll collection system, accounting for over 70% of the country's market share. Tasco Insurance specializes in providing motor vehicle insurance products. Previously, VETC - a subsidiary of Tasco, also successfully attracted an investment of 500 billion VND from IFC through the form of convertible bonds.

Last August, Tasco successfully issued nearly 175.8 million shares to existing shareholders, thereby increasing its charter capital to nearly VND10,683 billion.

Recently, Tasco stopped contributing more capital to VETC, pouring thousands of billions into Tasco Auto. Specifically, instead of pouring 500 billion VND into VETC JSC as originally planned, Tasco decided to transfer all of this capital to Tasco Auto.

Although Tasco is focusing on the automobile segment, the profit margin of traditional car retail is still thin, Tasco Auto's financial situation is quite gloomy. The company aims to develop vertically, from import, distribution, CKD assembly to after-sales service, with a focus on Chinese cars.

Tasco (HUT) used to be the “BOT tycoon” in Vietnam and was considered a very potential enterprise with the right to collect tolls on many BOT roads. However, since 2018, Tasco has witnessed a decline in profits and faced many controversies at BOT toll stations due to public protests.

After taking over SVC Holdings (now Tasco Auto) in September 2023, Tasco's assets and revenue increased sharply. Since the end of 2023, all business results and assets of Tasco Auto have been consolidated into Tasco's financial statements.

According to the consolidated financial report for the second quarter of 2025, Tasco Joint Stock Company recorded net revenue of more than VND 15,300 billion, a sharp increase compared to more than VND 11,700 billion in the same period and dozens of times higher than the first half of 2023 before the merger. Profit after tax reached more than VND 112.6 billion, compared to more than VND 91 billion in the first half of 2024.

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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/dai-gia-ban-xe-o-to-trung-quoc-gap-kho-lo-hon-1-800-ty-dong-2440606.html