Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Alcohol and beer consumption is booming, and local beverageproducers are cashing in. 

This has attracted increased attention from investors, both locally andinternationally, who are looking to tap into the sector.

Vietnamese people consumed 4 billion litres of beer in 2017. This figure isexpected to climb to 5.6 billion litres in 2035, according to the Vietnam BeerAlcohol Beverage Association (VBA).

Each Vietnamese person drank an average of 43 litres per year, making thecountry the third-largest per capita consumer in Asia, just behind China andJapan.

Vietnam was also among the world's top 15 beer-consuming nations last year.

With 100 million consumers, the market has attracted a number offoreign giants looking for a share of the pie.

Thai giant conglomerate ThaiBev purchased the Ministry of Industry and Trade'sstake in the Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) in 2017, andcurrently holds 53 percent of the company's capital.

Danish brewing giant Carlsberg also wants to invest more in the Hanoi BeerAlcohol and Beverage Joint Stock Corporation (Habeco) after becoming astrategic investor in 2008.

Currently, more than 90 percent of Vietnam’s beer market share lies in thehands of Sabeco, Habeco, Heineken and Carlberg.

The remaining 10 percent belongs to local beer companies and newcomers such asSapporo and Budweiser.

Listed brewery firms have witnessed robust business growth thanks torising demand.

In the first six monthsof this year, Sabeco achieved a net revenue of 18.4 trillion VND (787 millionUSD), up 8.5 percent against 2018. Post-tax profit reached 2.8 trillion VND, anincrease of 15.2 percent year-on-year.

Thanks to this result, Sabeco has completed 47.4 percent its revenuetarget and 59.8 percent of its profit target for the year. The firmexpects to exceed these targets in 2019.

Sabeco's (SAB) stock price has increased by more than 10 percent since thebeginning of this year, closing Tuesday at 258,500 VND pershare.

Sabeco still pays cash dividends every year. In its consolidatedfinancial statement for the second quarter of 2019, the company had 5.3trillion VND in cash and cash equivalents, with money estimated at 1.59trillion VND and cash equivalent at 3.7 trillion VND.

Saigon Beer Western JSC (WSB) also reported positive business results in thefirst six months. Second quarter revenue reached 266 billion VND, up10 percent year-on-year, and revenue reached 514.6 billion VND, up 9 percent.

The company's gross profit margin in the first half reached over 20 percent, asignificant increase compared to the same period last year.

Six-month post-tax profit touched 84.3 billion VND, up 27.4 percent againstlast year. First half’s earnings per share (EPS) reached 4,925 VND.

In 2017, Saigon Beer Western JSC (WSB) paid cash dividends at a relatively highrate of 50 percent, plus a further 40 percent in 2018.

WSB's undistributed after-tax profit was 230 billion VND, while charter capitalwas only 145 billion VND.

Due to this huge saving, WSB has attracted many investors who prefer stabilityand cash dividends.

On the stock market, there are also other beer enterprises with small capitalscale but good business performances and high dividend payout ratios.

Ha Long Beer Beverage Joint Stock Company (HLB) has charter capital of only 30billion VND, but in 2018 it paid a dividend of up to 200 percent, of which100 percent was paid in cash and the rest in stocks. In 2017, the company paida 110 percent dividend in cash.

Hanoi – Hai Duong Beer JSC (HAD), with charter capital of 40 billion VND, paida dividend of 20 percent in 2018./.