Fast growth in real estate sector

The fifth consecutive annual FAST500 ranking for Vietnam's top-500 fastest growing firms gave first place to Samsung Electronics Vietnam Co. Ltd.

Performance is calculated on the compound annual growth rate of revenue from 2010 to 2015, factoring in total assets, the number of workers, after-tax profit and public profile. The average growth rate of the top 10 companies in FAST500 from 2013-2015 was 102.18 percent.

Vietnam Report also published a ranking list of 500 fastest growing small and medium-sized enterprises. The compound annual growth rate of the ten leading firms was at 82.29 percent.

The report showed an economic downturn in 2010-13, with an average growth rate during this period of 31.1 percent, compared with 44.7 percent in 2009-12.

The latest reports showed that steel had the highest average growth of 37.4 percent. The construction and real estate sectors followed with 36.9 percent. Vietnam Report said the economy was in recovery and 2014-15 was good period for business expansion.

Most of surveyed firms said they will expand their businesses, with 19.2 percent seeing continue stability, with 5.1 percent expecting contraction. Competition was expected to increase with 60.3 percent considering the rise of their rivals in the same sector to be the biggest challenge.

The firms hope the government will maintain low interest rates and create favourable conditions for accessing loans, as well as lower corporate income tax, more infrastructure development and more commitment to developing human resources.