On October 6, 2026, NET Detergent JSC (ticker NET, HNX) closes its shareholder register for a 2025 cash dividend of 65%, or VND 6,500 per share. With roughly 22.4 million shares outstanding, the company will pay out about VND 145.6 billion, with payment scheduled for October 14.CafeF
The 65% rate itself is nothing new: NET paid exactly the same for 2024. What has changed is the profit behind it. The numbers show this year's dividend absorbing almost all of 2025 earnings, while 2026 earnings are heading lower. This post lines up those two series and traces where the money for the October 14 payment actually comes from.
A fixed payout against shrinking profit
In 2024, NET booked net profit of VND 206.62 billion. In 2025 that fell 23.2% to VND 158.68 billion. In the first half of 2026, net profit was just over VND 46.5 billion, down about 43% year on year.CafeF
The dividend, meanwhile, stays put at about VND 145.6 billion a year. That is a function of how it is set: the 65% rate applies to the VND 10,000 par value, not to earnings. Keep the rate constant while profit falls, and the share of earnings paid out climbs automatically.
The payout ratio tells the story:
| Profit period | Net profit (VND bn) | Dividend vs. profit |
|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | 206.62 | about 70% |
| FY2025 | 158.68 | about 92% |
| 1H2026 | about 46.5 | about 3.1x |
These ratios are calculated from the dividend amount and the profit figures in NET's financial statements. Put simply, the company is paying out nearly everything it earned in 2025, while this year's earnings have only built up a fraction of that sum.
NET's 2026 plan has two profit targets: a low case of VND 160 billion and a high case of VND 180 billion. After six months, the company has delivered only 29.1% of the low-case profit target, even though revenue has reached 50.9% of plan.CafeF That gap between the two completion rates points straight at margins.
Selling more, earning less at the gross level
First-half 2026 net revenue came in at VND 891.3 billion, up 20.7% year on year. Gross profit, however, fell 17.6% to VND 145.6 billion.CafeF By coincidence, six months of gross profit is almost exactly the size of the upcoming dividend.
The immediate cause is cost of goods sold growing faster than revenue. COGS rose to VND 745.69 billion from VND 561.98 billion a year earlier, an increase of about 32.7%. Gross margin dropped from 23.91% to 16.34% as a result. Over a longer horizon, the margin was 25.83% in 2024 and 22.61% in 2025, so the erosion has played out over several reporting periods rather than a single quarter.
Selling and administrative expenses also rose, from VND 80.32 billion to VND 101.10 billion. There are at least two plausible readings. One is that revenue growth was bought with heavier selling spend. The other is higher input costs. The reviewed financial statements, as reported in the press, say only that rising COGS eroded gross profit; they do not separate the effects of raw materials, product mix or pricing. There is not yet enough data to say which factor dominates.
One rare bright spot was financial income, which reached nearly VND 16.3 billion, up 49.5%.CafeF That income comes from the money the company has parked in deposits and investments, which is also where to look for the source of the dividend.
The dividend money sits in short-term investments
As of June 30, 2026, NET's cash and cash equivalents had fallen to VND 27.49 billion, down sharply from VND 278.58 billion at the end of 2025. The cash did not disappear, though. Most of it moved into short-term financial investments, which rose from VND 299.10 billion to nearly VND 358.4 billion, about 36% of total assets.CafeF Some of it also went into inventory, which climbed from VND 184.42 billion to VND 278.05 billion.
Cash plus short-term financial investments comes to about VND 385.87 billion, more than 2.6 times the upcoming dividend. That is the real cushion behind the October 14 payment. First-half profit of about VND 46.5 billion covers only around a third of the payout; the rest has to come from reserves built up during earlier, more profitable years.
That cushion should also be read against the company's obligations. Total liabilities stood at VND 405.75 billion at June 30, 2026, higher than cash and short-term investments combined. After the payout, the cushion will be thinner by about VND 145.6 billion, unless third-quarter profit makes up part of it. The numbers show NET can afford its 2025 dividend. What they do not yet show is whether it can fund a similar payout every year out of that same year's earnings.
Most of the money goes to two shareholders
NET's ownership is highly concentrated. Masan HPC Co., Ltd. holds 52.25% and will therefore receive about VND 76 billion from this payment. Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem) holds 36.00%, worth about VND 52.4 billion. Together the two control 88.25% of the company, leaving only about VND 17 billion for all other shareholders, including investment funds and retail investors.
That concentration also explains why NET trades so thinly. On October 2, just 11,200 shares changed hands, and the stock closed at VND 66,000. With this ownership structure, how much NET pays out in future years is essentially up to its two major shareholders at the AGM.
Key dates for current shareholders
According to the event calendar, the ex-dividend date is Monday, October 5, 2026, one business day before the record date. The last session to buy and still qualify for this dividend was Friday, October 2, which has already passed.
October 5. NET's reference price is adjusted down by exactly VND 6,500. Based on the October 2 close of VND 66,000, Monday's reference price will be VND 59,500. This is a technical adjustment, not a loss.
October 6. The shareholder register closes. Anyone who held shares before October 5 is on the list, even if they sell from October 5 onward.
October 14. The cash lands in brokerage accounts. After 5% personal income tax is withheld, each share nets VND 6,175.
The Q3 report will answer the rest
The conclusion from the available data is fairly clear: the October 14 payment is funded mainly by reserves on the balance sheet, while the profit NET is generating this year covers only about a third of it. The data cannot yet tell us what NET will pay for 2026, since the 65% rate is a separate shareholder decision each year.
The clearest gauge will be nine-month profit when NET releases its third-quarter report. If full-year 2026 profit lands near the VND 160 billion low-case target, a VND 145.6 billion payout still fits within the year's earnings. If full-year profit is only about double the first half, around VND 93 billion, then keeping the 65% rate means drawing on reserves again. In that case, gross margin and the cash-plus-short-term-investments cushion will be the two numbers worth watching each reporting period.