- BSR announced H1 2021 results with revenue increasing 54.2% YoY and net profit reaching VND3.5tn (USD152mn) vs a net loss of VND4.2tn (USD180mn) in H1 2020. We note that the official H1 2021 profit number was ~9% higher than the preliminary number announced earlier.

- The robust H1 2021 results were driven by 1) an oil price uptrend that helped BSR to benefit from low production cost inventory obtained in Q1 2021, 2) crack spreads rebounding from a low base and 3) a sales volume recovery of 2.9% YoY.

- In Q2 2021, BSR’s revenue doubled YoY and its net profit was VND1.7tn (USD74mn). BSR’s net profit in Q2 was 9.1% lower than in Q1 due to a less positive impact from low-cost inventory.

- We expect BSR’s net profit in H2 2021 will not be as good as in H1 and that the company will be subject to oil price volatility as the positive impact of low-cost inventory will diminish.

- Nevertheless, BSR’s H1 2021 revenue and net profit completed 54.0% and 106.0% of our respective full-year forecasts and were well above our expectation. As such, we foresee upside to our 2021F NPAT-MI, pending a fuller review