For every VND 100 of revenue in Q3 2026, FPT Telecom (ticker FOX on UPCoM) kept about VND 43 as gross profit. A year earlier the figure was VND 51, so the gross margin fell by 7.7 percentage points.CafeF Net profit still rose 13%, but line by line, internet and telecom services account for only about a third of the extra profit.
The same week brought a change on the shareholder side: on October 23, the Ministry of Public Security handed over the right to represent the state's stake in FPT Telecom to GTINX. The two events fall on different dates and the sources do not link them, so this post takes them one at a time.
Revenue up 20%, gross profit nearly flat
According to the Q3 2026 consolidated financial statements, FPT Telecom's net revenue reached VND 5,916 billion, up 20% year on year. Cost of sales rose 39% to VND 3,351 billion, almost twice as fast as revenue. Gross profit therefore grew by just under 2% to VND 2,565 billion, and the gross margin slid from 51.1% to 43.4%.CafeF
In absolute terms, revenue added nearly VND 1,000 billion, yet gross profit added only about VND 47 billion on top of VND 2,517.56 billion in Q3 2025. Part of the higher cost is simply scale: sell more and you book more cost. Holding Q3 2025's cost-to-revenue ratio constant, this quarter's cost of sales would have been about VND 2,895 billion. The remaining VND 456 billion, close to half of the total increase, comes from the ratio itself rising. That is an arithmetic split. The sources available do not say whether it reflects depreciation on new infrastructure, equipment prices, a shift in service mix or a one-off charge, so this post assigns it to none of them.
One detail is worth placing next to that question. At September 30, 2026, construction in progress stood at VND 1,123 billion, up 61% from the start of the year, including items tied to data centers and infrastructure. Inventories rose 64% to VND 2,339 billion.CafeF Infrastructure tends to bring depreciation before it brings matching revenue, so this is a plausible explanation. It remains a hypothesis, not something the report confirms.
Where the 13% profit growth came from
Pre-tax profit in Q3 was VND 1,282 billion and net profit VND 1,022 billion, both up 13%.CafeF Against VND 1,131.67 billion in Q3 2025, pre-tax profit gained roughly VND 150 billion, and that gain comes from lines of very different character.
Gross profit contributed about VND 47 billion, the part that comes directly from selling services. Administrative expenses fell 6% to VND 530 billion from VND 566.38 billion, a saving of about VND 36 billion. Selling expenses were roughly flat at VND 918 billion. Adding gross profit, selling and administrative lines, core operating profit came to about VND 1,117 billion, up about VND 78 billion (around 7.5%) from VND 1,039.15 billion in Q3 2025. Core profit still grew, then, but far slower than the 20% in revenue, and nearly half of that growth came from trimming administrative costs.
The financial side added about VND 60 billion. Financial revenue rose 72% to VND 346 billion, while financial expenses rose almost 80% to VND 192 billion, of which interest expense was VND 179 billion, up 78%.CafeF The gap between the two lines was about VND 154 billion, versus about VND 94 billion a year earlier. The remaining VND 13 billion or so comes from other income and small lines the sources do not break out.
Side by side, gross profit carried roughly 31% of the extra profit. Net financial income and lower administrative costs together carried about 64%. Q3 was therefore not a quarter in which the core business strengthened in step with net profit growth.
Large deposits, yet more borrowing
The source of that financial revenue sits on the balance sheet. At September 30, 2026, FPT Telecom held VND 727 billion in cash and equivalents plus VND 15,571 billion in short-term financial investments, mostly term deposits. Together that is about VND 16,298 billion, or 51% of total assets of VND 31,903 billion.CafeF
At the same time, borrowings and finance leases rose to about VND 10,187 billion, up 36% from the start of the year. Total liabilities were VND 17,818 billion, up 20%, and short-term receivables rose 36% to VND 2,708 billion.CafeF The extra borrowing moves in step with three growing items: construction in progress, inventories and receivables.
The sources do not explain why the company borrows more rather than drawing down deposits. What the numbers do show is that deposits minus debt still leave about VND 6,100 billion, and Q3 financial revenue of VND 346 billion is almost twice the VND 179 billion of interest expense. That cushion depends on two rates that move in opposite directions: the rate earned on deposits and the rate paid on loans. Interest expense has already risen 78% in a year. If deposit rates fall while borrowing keeps growing, the support from the financial line will narrow just as the gross margin has yet to recover.
GTINX takes over representation of the state stake
On October 23, 2026, the Ministry of Public Security held a ceremony handing over the right to represent the owner of the state's stake in FPT Telecom to the Global Industrial Technology Corporation (GTINX), under a decision by the Minister of Public Security. GTINX is the successor to the Global Telecommunications Technology Corporation (GTEL), a Ministry-owned enterprise, and has used the GTINX name since October 1, 2026. Before that, from July 16, 2025, the right had moved from SCIC to the Ministry.CafeF
This is a change in who exercises the representation rights, not a share sale. Shareholder data updated on the evening of October 23 still show the state stake at about 370.67 million shares, or 50.17% of capital. FPT Corporation holds 45.66%, and all other shareholders together about 4.17%. At the October 23 close of VND 57,300 per share, FPT Telecom's market value is about VND 42,300 billion.
What has been stated clearly: according to the press reports, the handover does not change FPT Telecom's service operations. GTINX said it will manage, supervise and improve the use of state capital, and plans to combine FPT Telecom's telecom infrastructure with its own technology ecosystem. What has no source: what GTINX will change in governance, investment plans or dividend policy. FPT Telecom paid regular cash dividends from fiscal 2018 through 2024, ranging from VND 2,000 to 5,000 per share, but that history is no commitment for coming years.
What FOX holders should watch
Q3 shows FPT Telecom still growing in scale, but the quality of earnings has weakened: the extra profit did not come mainly from selling services, but leaned heavily on financial income and lower administrative costs. That is a verdict on this quarter alone. It is not enough to conclude the gross margin will keep thinning, since part of the cost may relate to infrastructure not yet generating revenue.
The Q4 report and the 2027 plan will answer that. Two signals are best read together: whether construction in progress falls because projects are moved into operating assets, and whether the gross margin recovers toward 50%. If construction in progress falls and the margin recovers, the infrastructure spend is starting to turn into revenue. If the gross margin stays near 43% while interest expense keeps rising, FOX shareholders' profit will lean more and more on deposit interest.