Hoa Phat earns $144 million

Monday, May 5, 2008
The Hoa Phat Group announced a total revenue of VND2.3 trillion (US$144 million) from the first quarter of this year, 30% of its target for the entire year.
The company expects to earn a post-tax profit of more than VND451 billion, 60% of its target figure. Hoa Phat is mainly involved in the trade and production of structural steel.

Bao Viet Securities to issue 30m shares

Monday, May 5, 2008
Bao Viet Securities Joint Stock Co, code share BVS, will issue an additional 30 million shares worth VND300 billion (US$18.7 million) on May 6 at the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre.
The company said it intends to offer the shares to its existing shareholders at a price of VND32,000 a piece.

REE come to Can Tho garden party

Monday, May 5, 2008
Refrigeration Engineering Joint Stock Co (REE), the Sai Gon Agricultural Joint Stock Co and Siam Orchids Thailand Co will create a tropical flower garden in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta City of Can Tho.
The garden, covering 200ha, will be built at a cost of VND150 billion (US$9.37 million), with completion expected in 2011. It will be a centre for the collection, hybridisation and production of flowers adapted to the Delta eco-system.

Sai Gon Cable Co to list shares

Monday, May 5, 2008
The Sai Gon Cable Co will list more than 29 million shares at the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre on May 6.
The company, which specialises in the trade and production of electrical and telecom cables, is capitalised at VND300 billion (US$18.7 million), 31.1 per cent of which the State holds.

Song Da No.11 earns $278,000 in Q1

Monday, May 5, 2008
Song Da No.11 Joint Stock Company, a listed electrical company on the Hanoi Securities Trading Center has announced a post-tax profit of VND4.45 billion (US$278,000) in the first three months of the year, an increase of 26.3% year-on-year.
Shares in the company, coded SJE, closed at VND22,900 on Tuesday.

POT’s Q1 profit plunges 94.5%

Monday, May 5, 2008
Listed firm on the Hanoi Securities Trading Center, the Post and Telecommunication Equipment Joint Stock Co has revealed a post-tax profit of VND258 million (US$16,100) from the first quarter of the year, a plummet of 94.5% against the same period in 2007.
The company, capitalised at VND194.4 billion, pledges to continue with its planned projects this year in hope of achieving a pre-tax profit of VND45 billion on revenue of VND780 billion.

Ha Tien 1 Cement to buy back shares

Monday, May 5, 2008
Listed firm on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, Ha Tien 1 Cement Joint Stock Co has said it will commission the Bao Viet Securities Joint Stock Co to buy back 300,000 shares from May 5 to July 5.
The capital used to initiate the buyback will be mobilised from the company’s investment and development fund.

Brokerages seek new market share in nation’s hinterlands

Sunday, May 4, 2008
Several securities firms have continued to expand their brokerage offices into provincial rural and urban areas to attract new investor activity despite the stock market downturn.
These securities groups are going on the offensive to grab their share of the growing nationwide demand for access to traded stocks in anticipation of a coming market recovery.
The boom in the number of new brokerage offices has been facilitated at the same time by new, easier administrative procedures for securities companies to establish localised branches.

Securities firms can now open local offices without first having to obtain permission from the State Securities Commission (SSC), and are simply required to report a new branch once it has already opened.

Brokerage houses have cut costs by co-ordinating with local enterprises. While the securities company focuses on personnel and equipment, the local enterprise provides the real estate in which the partnership is housed.

Expansion into the provinces has also been motivated by the mushrooming number of agencies in the trading hubs of Ha Noi, HCM City and Hai Phong City. As these markets approach the point of saturation, firms have begun to look outward in the search for greater transactional capacity.

For example, An Binh Securities Company (ABS) co-operated with Tat Thanh Co Ltd to set up an agency in Thai Nguyen City on April 24. This was the 16th local branch of ABS to open nationwide.

"The opening of this new ABS branch will satisfy the demand of this industrial city’s stock market investors," said an ABS representative.

On the same day, Capital Securities Co (CSC) opened an agency in northern Ha Nam Province. This is the first provincial branch of CSC, and also the first securities firm to open a local office in Ha Nam.

APEC Securities Co (APECS) opened an office in the northern Thai Nguyen Province on April 23 in co-ordination with Tan Cuong Hoang Binh Joint stock Co.

APECS recently opened branches in the four provinces of Long An, Dak Lak, Nam Dinh and Nha Trang City, as well as an office in Ha Noi.

On April 12, VNDirect Securities Co launched a local trading office at Vinh Yen Township in northern Vinh Phuc Province.

Nguyen Manh Hao, director general of APECS, said that since the firm’s inception it had pursued the development of a nationwide network of offices.

Hao expressed reservations about the promise of remote market connectivity, however, saying, "Although the application of modern technologies has made it possible to trade securities via telephone or online, someone still has to be there on the trading floors to make a deposit or withdrawal on an account, or register an account in the first place, so the on-site agency will always be necessary."

To operate such an agency, said Hao, it costs APECS, and other firms like it, tens of millions dong a month. This sum is not small, especially given the current difficult situation with the market as well as the fierce competition between securities firms.

Taking on the added cost of developing a nationwide brokerage network, therefore, is a long-term strategy on the part of APECS with a view towards staking out a dominant position in the market in advance of its rebound in the future, Hao added.

Viet Nam’s stock market is still in its infancy and it has great potential to develop under long-term vision. While the number of private individuals investing in securities throughout the country so far remains modest, analysts predict that the figure will continue rising steadily.

Hoang Van Hiep, a farmer in the central highland province of Lam Dong said: "While real estate prices are high and unstable, investment in securities becomes more attractive."

Another farmer in Lam Dong Province said: "Securities investment is a new and unfamiliar channel of financial activity for me, but definitely one that I intend to look into further and in which I hope to one day participate." (VNS)