In Q3 2026, Quang Ngai Sugar JSC (ticker QNS, UPCoM) booked VND 788 billion in gross profit from soy milk, roughly four times what its sugar business earned.CafeF The business license still says sugar, but the money now comes from Fami and Vinasoy cartons. The company also sits on nearly VND 9,000 billion in deposits and cash, at a time when banks are being asked to lower deposit rates.
For anyone holding QNS, three things matter after the Q3 report: where the profit comes from, where the cash sits, and how far full-year profit is from the plan. This post takes them in turn.
Q3 results: profit grew faster than revenue
According to the Q3 2026 consolidated financial statements, as relayed by CafeF on October 25, net revenue was VND 3,073 billion, up 14.5% year on year. Profit after tax was nearly VND 450 billion, up 18.1%.CafeF
Profit outpaced revenue because the company-wide gross margin widened from 32.4% to 35.3%.CafeF On revenue of VND 3,073 billion, a 35.3% margin implies total gross profit of about VND 1,085 billion. That figure is our own calculation from two published numbers, not a line item in the report.
Soy milk: more volume, higher prices, fatter margin
Per a Vietcap Securities report dated October 23 and cited by CafeF, the company sold about 85 million liters of soy milk in Q3, up 16%, or more than 920,000 liters a day. Average selling prices also improved by about 6%.CafeF Together these lifted segment revenue to VND 1,633 billion, up nearly 24%.
Gross profit rose faster still, by 34%, because the gross margin moved from 44.8% to 48.3%.CafeF Put simply, for every VND 100 of soy milk sold, the company keeps more than VND 48 after cost of goods.
Set against estimated total gross profit of about VND 1,085 billion, VND 788 billion means soy milk supplies roughly 73% of gross profit while contributing only about 53% of revenue. Sugar, with revenue of VND 871 billion and a 22% margin, yields about VND 190 billion in gross profit. The remaining 10% or so comes from other businesses.
Beyond the home market, Vietcap notes that Vinasoy took the lead in Cambodian retail outlets after a Thai competitor withdrew.CafeF That could become a new growth source, but the source does not say how much exports contribute to revenue.
Sugar: better margin, lower profit
The segment that gave the company its name moved the other way. Sugar revenue fell nearly 8% to VND 871 billion, mainly because the average selling price dropped about 11%. Pre-tax profit from sugar fell 15% to VND 130 billion.CafeF
The sugar gross margin still edged up from 20.2% to 22%.CafeF A better margin suggests costs fell faster than prices, but with revenue shrinking, absolute profit did not follow. Sugar gross profit of about VND 190 billion is less than a quarter of the soy milk figure.
There are two ways to read the sugar business. One says domestic sugar prices are at a cyclical low and will follow world prices back up. The other says pressure from imported sugar and sweetener substitutes will hold prices down for longer. The Q3 data only shows that the company's own selling price is below a year earlier, which is not enough to choose between them.
Nearly 57% of assets are deposits and cash
The second layer of the story is on the balance sheet. As of September 30, 2026, the company held VND 8,734 billion in held-to-maturity investments, mostly term deposits, plus VND 192 billion in cash and cash equivalents. The two total about VND 8,926 billion, nearly 57% of total assets of VND 15,737 billion.CafeF
In Q3, financial income reached VND 157 billion, more than double a year earlier and larger than the VND 130 billion pre-tax profit of the sugar segment.CafeF Those two numbers need careful handling. The source does not break out deposit interest within financial income, and financial income is stated before financial expenses. It would be wrong to treat all VND 157 billion as bank interest flowing straight into profit.
The backdrop for deposit rates is shifting. Per Mekong ASEAN, the State Bank of Vietnam asked banks in October to cut rates on deposits of six months or longer by at least 0.5% a year for new transactions in the final months of the year.Mekong ASEAN As Quang Ngai Sugar's deposits mature, they will be rolled over at the new, lower rates.
The real impact has not been quantified. An illustrative calculation gives a sense of scale: if the entire VND 8,734 billion were redeposited at a rate 0.5 percentage points lower, annual interest income would fall by about VND 44 billion, around 3% of nine-month profit after tax. That assumes every deposit matures and is rolled over at once, whereas in practice maturities are staggered and large corporates often negotiate their own rates. Lower deposit rates will erode some income, but at this size they are not enough to overshadow swings in the soy milk business.
Nine-month profit is about 93% of the annual plan
For the first nine months of 2026, revenue was VND 9,125 billion, up nearly 16%, and profit after tax was VND 1,407 billion, up nearly 7%.CafeF The annual general meeting on April 4, 2026 approved a profit-after-tax plan of VND 1,512 billion,Vietstock 21% below the 2025 result.Mekong ASEAN
After three quarters, the company has covered about 93% of the distance. The gap is only about VND 105 billion, while Q3 alone brought in nearly VND 450 billion. The Q4 question is therefore no longer whether the plan will be met, but whether the profit mix holds up as it did in Q3.
Cash and dividends
Quang Ngai Sugar pays cash dividends regularly. For 2025 the total cash dividend was 40%, or VND 4,000 per share, the third year in a row at that level,Market Times totaling about VND 1,470 billion.Vietstock For 2026, the company has paid a first interim cash advance of 10%, about VND 368 billion.Mekong ASEAN The full-year rate will be set by later payments and next year's shareholder meeting.
Nearly VND 9,000 billion in deposits is about six times a year's dividends at 40%, so ability to pay is not a near-term concern. The longer-term question is whether new annual income can sustain that payout, and that income now depends mainly on soy milk. QNS closed at VND 50,100 on October 23.
What to watch in Q4 2026
Quang Ngai Sugar's profit now leans more on soy milk and deposits than on sugar. The health of earnings and the dividend therefore hinges first on soy milk volume and pricing, and only then on sugar prices.
The Q4 2026 report will answer these questions:
- Whether the soy milk gross margin holds around 48%.
- Whether financial income stays near VND 157 billion as deposits start to be rolled over at lower rates.
- Whether the average sugar selling price remains below a year earlier.
If the soy milk margin holds, lower deposit rates are only a small shortfall. If the soy milk margin shrinks while deposit income falls, the sugar business is not strong enough to fill the gap.