Eight months to clear a target set for the full year. That is the pace at which Bach Hoa Xanh, the grocery chain owned by Mobile World Group (MWG), just crossed the finish line: 1,000 new stores opened since the start of 2026, taking the network to 3,563 outlets as of August 27, four months ahead of schedule.Markettimes What stands out isn't the speed itself, but that the chain kept expanding this fast while staying profitable at the store level.
Speed with profit this time, unlike 2022
Look at the numbers and this is a fundamentally different expansion from the one that forced Bach Hoa Xanh into restructuring in 2022-2023.CafeF Back then, the faster stores opened, the deeper losses got, as logistics and staffing couldn't keep pace with scale. This time the numbers move in the same direction: more than 800 stores opened in the first seven months of the year all posted positive operating profit at the store level, even after fully allocating logistics costs.Markettimes
Since the start of August alone, the chain has opened 185 stores, nearly 7 a day on average, almost double the pace of the first half of the year. Over the first seven months, chain revenue reached VND 33,900 billion, up more than 28% year-on-year, driven mainly by fresh food and fast-moving consumer goods.Markettimes H1 profit came in around VND 910 billion, already exceeding full-year 2025 profit.Markettimes
More telling than the absolute figures is the margin trend: net profit margin improved to 3.4% in Q2 2026, up from 3.1% in Q1.Markettimes Opening hundreds of new outlets while margins still widen is a sign that mature stores are absorbing the cost of new ones well. Under MWG's 2026 plan, Bach Hoa Xanh is tasked with contributing roughly 30% of group revenue and nearly 20% of group profit, equivalent to VND 55,500 billion in revenue and VND 1,800 billion in profit.CafeF Halfway through the year, the chain has covered exactly half of that profit target.
Why it still can't list like Dien May Xanh
After Dien May Xanh listed on HOSE on August 6, many investors read Bach Hoa Xanh's store-opening pace as a signal that it would be the next MWG subsidiary to get a separate listing. MWG's leadership hasn't confirmed that through any resolution or formal filing. What's actually blocking the path isn't store count. It's an accounting rule.
HOSE listing conditions under Decree 155/2020 require a company to have been profitable for the two years immediately preceding listing, to post a return on equity (ROE) of at least 5% in the year before listing, and to carry no accumulated losses on its most recent audited financial statements.DNSE That last condition is the one Bach Hoa Xanh still owes.
Those accumulated losses stem mainly from 2020-2023, and public sources still disagree on the remaining balance: an August 27 Markettimes article put it at roughly VND 7,000 billion after the chain's VND 910 billion H1 profit,Markettimes while the tax-basis accumulated loss through Q1 2026 was recorded at VND 4,589 billion.Nguoi Quan Sat Whichever figure you use, at a planned profit pace of roughly VND 1,800 billion a year, this is a multi-year problem, not a matter of a few quarters.
Company leadership has been consistent about that timeline. Vu Dang Linh, CEO of Mobile World Group (MWG), said the company "remains confident that within the next 2-3 years it will fully offset accumulated losses to complete an IPO and list Bach Hoa Xanh."Markettimes Pham Van Trong, CEO of the Bach Hoa Xanh chain, reiterated a 2028 IPO target.CafeF One distinction matters here: this is guidance leadership has shared through the media, not a board resolution or a filing submitted to regulators.
The Dien May Xanh precedent: gains flow to the parent
If you want to picture what a spin-off listing actually delivers to MWG shareholders, Dien May Xanh's last three weeks are the closest sample available.
DMX shares listed on HOSE on August 6 at a reference price of VND 80,000, closing the debut session at VND 82,000. The price climbed to VND 90,000 over the sessions of August 12-13, then drifted down to VND 79,000 by August 27. Part of that decline is a technical adjustment for a VND 4,000-per-share cash dividend with an ex-dividend date of August 18,Bao Moi the rest is selling pressure following the hot debut rally.
Over the same window, the parent company's stock moved in the opposite direction. MWG rose from VND 72,200 on August 5, the session before DMX's debut, to VND 75,900 on August 27, a gain of 5.1%. MWG still holds 85.96% of Dien May Xanh and effectively owns both Bach Hoa Xanh legal entities outright, so value re-rated at the subsidiary level still flows back onto the parent's balance sheet.
To be clear, MWG's gain over the past three weeks can't be attributed entirely to the spin-off story. Over the same period, the broader market rose, with the VN-Index closing August 27 at 1,831.56 points; Q2 earnings and capital flows into the retail sector also played a role. What the three-week data does show more clearly is this: investors buying a subsidiary's stock on debut day take on noticeably higher volatility risk than investors holding the parent company's shares.
Risks the August numbers don't answer
First, roughly half of the stores opened since the start of the year sit in the North and Central regions, even though the chain only opened its first Hanoi store this year.VietnamBiz Shopping habits in the North differ from the South, and the newest stores haven't had enough time to prove their economics over a full cycle.
Second, a 3.4% margin is still thin by the standard of a mature retail chain. If rent or logistics costs in new regions rise, profit growth could stall quickly.
Third, the policy tailwind may not hold evenly. SSI Research argues the grocery segment is benefiting from a crackdown on tax compliance among individual household businesses, closures of unlicensed informal markets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and stricter food traceability requirements.Markettimes These are administrative measures whose scope and enforcement pace vary by locality, not a guaranteed nationwide policy.
What to watch next
For investors holding or considering MWG shares, a separate Bach Hoa Xanh listing is a 2-3 year story, not a catalyst for this quarter's price action. The more useful checkpoint is the Q3 earnings report.
The first metric to track is net profit margin: can it hold above 3.4% as the share of Northern stores keeps rising. The second is the pace at which accumulated losses shrink on the consolidated balance sheet, the most direct gauge of how far the chain still has to go before 2028. The third is average revenue per store as the network passes 3,500 outlets, which tells you whether the chain is genuinely growing bigger or just spreading itself thinner across more locations.
Those three metrics say more about MWG's real value than any rumor about the date Bach Hoa Xanh finally lists.