CONCLUSIONES Y RECOMENDACIONES DE OTROS SITIOS

SWOT Analysis

Strengths ■ A nationwide distribution network gives Masan rare access to both the country's

high-spending urban centres and the rural, low-spending population.

■ Established, strong brands are a significant advantage in the current environment of

regional food hygiene and safety scares.

■ Investment from a leading private equity fund is likely to provide capital for expansion.

■ Its increasingly diversified product portfolio caters specifically to local tastes.

Weaknesses ■ Local consumers generally do not exhibit strong brand loyalty or a preference for

Vietnamese products.

• Domestic and multinational competition is high, even in a fragmented marketplace, and Masan will have to continue pouring in capital investment to secure its market share.

Opportunities ■ A young and fast-growing population represents a receptive audience for branded

foods.

■ Further product development in perceived healthy and innovative product channels is

a long-term opportunity, even if the audience for such goods is currently small.

■ Masan has received investment from a number of multinationals, providing funds for

future expansion, product launches and marketing campaigns.

■ The company has confirmed that it may consider mergers and acquisitions as a

means of accelerating growth.

■ Product diversification will help to secure new avenues of growth.

Threats ■ Despite having an established nationwide distribution network, the movement of

goods remains a problem given the country's underdeveloped infrastructure.

■ The arrival of multinationals, with an emphasis on branded food sales, will jeopardise

SWOT Analysis - Continued

■ Volatile input costs could threaten margins, with these difficult to pass on to

consumers in what remains a price-sensitive environment.

■ Recent monetary tightening measures could reduce discretionary spending, with

demand for branded food and beverages suffering as a result.

Company Overview Masan Consumer, formerly Masan Food (a name change that reflects its desire to diversify into a wider range of consumer products), is part of Masan Group, a company that is engaged in financial services via its Techcombank arm. The company is a leading producer of instant noodles and sauces, including soy sauce, fish sauce and chilli sauce. A branded food specialist, its key brand names include Nam Ngu, Chin-Su, Tam Thai Tu and Omachi. The company controls 74% of the domestic fish sauce market, 80% of the Vietnamese soy sauce market and 40% of the local premium instant noodles market.

Strategy Masan has been a key local player in terms of Vietnam's transition from non-branded to branded foodstuffs. If it is to maintain healthy growth rates in the long term, it may also have to look to further portfolio diversification. Increased investment from international food and drink companies, with powerhouse brands and immense marketing resources, will create additional competitive pressure for Masan. Yet the company does have the advantage of an existing distribution reach and an established domestic name. Masan's significant capital investments will help facilitate its move into non-food consumer products, including beverages, home and personal care. To aid its transition to a more diversified company, Masan will seek to establish umbrella brands, thus leveraging its existing strong brand name. This is an advisable strategy if under pressure from Western powerhouse brands. The company is also likely to pursue increased manufacturing efficiency, a priority that must be balanced against

expansionary investments during such a period of volatile input costs. Demonstrating its diversification ambitions, Masan has acquired a 50.1% stake, valued at around

VND1.07trn (US$51mn), in Vietnamese coffee producer Vinacafe Bien Hoa Joint-Stock Company.

A very dynamic consumer story continues to take shape in Vietnam, and Masan's investment underlines its confidence in the country's consumer outlook. By acquiring a controlling stake in Vinacafe, Masan clearly wants to put itself in a strong position to leverage on the exciting demand dynamics in the Vietnamese coffee sector. According to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, Vinacafe is the country's second largest

coffee exporter, and Masan could tap into Vinacafe's expertise and brand name to grow its presence in the domestic coffee sector.

Looking ahead, the backing of expansion-oriented private equity player Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) will most likely continue to prove very supportive of Masan's expansion plans beyond the processed food sectors into other consumer goods products. KKR acquired a 10% stake in Masan in April 2012 for US$159mn, as it looks to leverage off Vietnam's private consumption boom. Given KKR's growing appetite for emerging market-based assets, we believe that it will continue to commit significant sums of investment in expanding Masan's domestic scale. Closely following KKR's injection of equity capital into Masan, the latter announced that it has a war chest of as much as US$500mn to pursue acquisitional growth, which is likely to leave Masan increasingly well placed to reap the attractive rewards on offer in Vietnam.

At the beginning of 2013, KKR doubled its investment in Masan Consumer, investing an additional US$200mn in the Vietnamese company. According to KKR regional head of Southeast Asia, Ming Lu, 'Doubling our investment in less than two years demonstrates our strong conviction in Vietnam's growth story, Masan Group as our partner of choice in Vietnam and Masan Consumer as a leading Vietnam consumption platform.'

In February 2013 Masan announced its plans to acquire 24.9% of bottled beverage company Vinh Hao Mineral Joint Stock Company. Established in 1930, Vinh Hao was the first domestic mineral water producer in the country, with a portfolio of mineral water, purified water and mineral water-based soft drinks.

Financial Data For the year ending December:

■ 2012 Net Sales: VND10,309bn, growth of 47.2% ■ 2011 Net Sales: VND7,239bn, growth of 27.2%

■ 2011 Operating Income: VND2,492.8bn, decline of 3.3% ■ 2011 Net Income: VND2,505.3bn, decline of 4.7% ■ 2010 Net Sales: VND5,586.3bn, growth of 41.1%

■ 2010 Operating Income: VND2,577.3bn, growth of 274.0% ■ 2010 Net Income: VND2,629.2bn, growth of 286.9% ■ 2009 Net Sales: VND3,957.8bn, growth of 105.9% ■ 2009 Operating Income: VND698.1bn, growth of 54.7%