Vietnam fertiliser maker's profit above target

HANOI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Petrovietnam fertiliser maker PVFCCo DPM.HM, Vietnam's third-largest listed firm, said on Tuesday its gross profit in the first 11 months of 2007 had exceeded the target for the whole of the year.

PVFCCo, or Petrovietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals Company, said it made a gross profit of 1.08 trillion dong ($67 million), 33.3 percent above the full-year target.

Its 11-month revenues were 3.6 trillion dong, or 11.8 percent higher than the annual projection, the firm said in a statement issued through the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange .VNI.

"Revenues and profit will exceed the target" for 2007, it said.

Shares in PVFCCo fell 2.67 percent to 73,000 dong ($4.53) on Tuesday, valuing the firm at $1.72 billion, the third largest on the Ho Chi Minh exchange after Sacombank STB.HM and Vinamilk VNM.HM.

The company operates the Phu My Urea Plant, Vietnam's largest with an annual capacity of 740,000 tonnes, in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, the main oil and gas producing region.

Last month, PVFCCo said it expected its 2007 net profit to dip 14 percent from 2006 to 1 trillion dong ($62 million) as it transformed into a publicly listed firm.

PVFCCo said its Phu My Urea brand had a 50 percent market share in the Mekong Delta rice basket, the Central Highlands coffee belt and southeastern provinces, the main growing areas for rubber and pepper.

The company has said it planned to expand annual production to 925,000 tonnes by 2010, when it would also import 300,000 tonnes of fertiliser to meet 60 percent of domestic demand. ($1=16,120 dong) (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Michael Battye)