KBC - Positive IP land sales progress; strong profit guidance supported by new project approvals

We attended KBC’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on March 6, 2025.

2025 guidance: Shareholders approved 2025G guidance for total income (including revenue, financial income, and other income) of VND10tn (USD392mn; +3x YoY) and NPAT of VND3.2tn (USD125mn; +7x YoY), representing 129% and 204% of our respective full-year forecasts.

Figure: KBC’s NPAT actual and guidance

VNDbn	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025G
NPAT actual	320	1,352	1,577	2,245	460	N/A
NPAT guidance	816	2,000	4,500	4,000	4,000	3,200
% achieved	39%	68%	35%	56%	11%	N/A

Source: KBC, Vietcap compilation

IP land sales: KBC guides for 2025G IP land handovers of around 210 ha (vs a low base of 33 ha in 2024), among which is 76 ha in the Nam Son Hap Linh IP (Bac Ninh), 14 ha in the Tan Phu Trung IP (HCMC), 95 ha in the Hung Yen industrial clusters (Hung Yen) and 30 ha in the Trang Due 3 IP (Hai Phong; recently received investment approval in January 2025).

Trang Cat UA: The company plans to pay an additional land use rights fee of VND6.9tn (USD269mn) in Q1 2025 as the Hai Phong Provincial Committee approved the additional land use rights fee determination for this project in end-February 2025 following its 1/500 master plan revision.

Private placement plan: KBC is continuing to process its private placement plan of 250 million shares (33% of current O/S), with the issue price proposed at (1) 80% of the average closing price over the 30 trading days as of the SSC approval date and (2) not lower than LQ BVPS of the parent company at the time of execution. The company expects to execute the plan in Q2 2025 after it receives approval from the SSC.

Overall, we anticipate potential upside to our IP land sales and profit forecasts (pending a fuller review) mainly due to higher-than-expected land sales progress YTD across KBC’s IPs, with around 30 ha at the Nam Son Hap Linh IP to Goertek and 30 ha at the Hung Yen industrial clusters to Korean high-tech tenants.