BIDV insurance arm releases audited fiscal report

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
BIDV Insurance Co (BIC) recently released the audited fiscal year of 2007 with the total debts and equity of 720.020 billion dong.
Under it, the insurer last year reached 110.780 billion dong in total revenue, 70.153 billion dong in revenue from insurance business and brokerage, 40.483 billion dong in revenue from financial activities, 18.701 billion dong in pre-tax profit with CIT of 4.625 billion dong, and the after-tax profit of 14.076 billion dong.
It also spent total 92.079 billion dong, including 45.777 billion dong on cost for insurance business and brokerage, 7.011 billion dong on financial cost, 39.277 billion dong on corporate administration cost, and 14 million dong on other costs.

Chuong Duong brewage to dominate Dakai mineral water JSC

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Chuong Duong Brewage Joint Stock Co recently approved the plan for 2008 including negotiated transactions to buy 65-80% stake into Dakai Mineral Water Joint Stock Co, building an 80 billion dong housing project for employees on a site of 5,000 square metres in My Phuoc 3 IS.
This year, the company targets to reach 41.229 million litres of brewage, 272.225 billion dong in revenue, 26.748 billion dong in pre-tax profit, and EPS of 2,709 dong.

Extra two firms ask permission to list on HaSTC

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Hanoi Securities Trading Centre (HaSTC) reported that it received the listing applications from VNECO 1 Power Construction Joint Stock Co and Mangan Natural Mineral Joint Stock Co Accordingly, Da Nang based VNECO 1 has a chartered capital of 30 billion dong, of which the state holds 28.08%, operating in fields of civil construction, industry and road construction and Ha Tinh province's Mangan Co has a chartered capital of 12 billion dong, of which 51% is dominated by the state.
The number of HaSTC listed firms now reaches 136 with total listed shares of over 43.837 billion.

Incomfish looks to banks for cash after postponing share issue

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Seafood Investment and Commerce Joint Stock Co (Incomfish) announced it will delay a planned share issue of 23.99 million shares and assigned the director board to select financial institutions to raise capital instead.

In addition, the company also agreed to delay the construction on three investment projects such as Dai Duong frozen fish processing plant in HCM City, canned fish factory in Phu Yen province and other real estate projects in HCM City.

The company's general director Trinh Ba Hoang said that the delays were for difficulties in capital mobilisation.

However, in 2008, Incomfish will continue building Tan Thanh industrial complex with a designed area of over 100 hectares and total cost of 250 billion dong in Dong Thap province, a 48 billion dong three-star hotel in Thu Duc Dist, invest 5-10 billion dong in Northern Seafood JSC, contribute 66.24 billion dong in building a frozen fisheries factory in Dong Thap in conjunction with Asian Seafood Commerce JSC.

In addition, Incomfish will also invest 42.6 billion dong to cooperate with Saga Service Trading Production Ltd Co to build offices for lease in HCM City's Dist 1 and another US$1.8 million to set up shops in US and Europe.

Tu Liem urban area developer to pay dividend in shares

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange yesterday announced that May 21 is the deadline for Tu Liem Urban Area Development Joint Stock Co (coded NTL) to close a list of the shareholders to pay a dividend for 2007.
Under it, the listed firm will pay the 2007 dividend in shares at a ratio of 1:1 on July 20, 2008.
HCM City Securities Depository Centre will temporarily stop deposits for NTL coded shares on May 20, 21 and 22.

SCB raises non-term interest rates to 9 per-cent

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) has increased its VND non-term deposit interest rates from 3.6% a year (0.3% a month) to 9% a year (0.75% a month).
Non-term deposit often has low interest rates, not above 30% of term interest rates.
However, some banks pushed non-term interest rates to 3.5-4% a years because of lacking capital. SCB’s new interest rates will be 70% of term interest rates.
According to banks, raising non-term interest rates helps limit money withdrawal because only person and businesses with frequent commodity purchases choose non-term deposits. Due to recent limits on interest rates, banks have to race to increase short-term interest rates.

Baseafood exports reach $3.48m

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Ba Ria-Vung Tau Seafood Import Export Joint Stock Co (Baseafood) said that in April it had exported more than 1,300 tonnes of seafood worth US$3.48 million. This raised export turnover in the first four months of the year to more than $10 million.
At present, Baseafood produces more than 200 high-quality products, including octopus, mackerel, processed seafood, dried squid and canned foods.
The company exported much of its dried and frozen products to Russia, Europe, Japan and South Korea. It aims to raise domestic sales by 50 per cent by 2010.

PetroVietnam Securities looks into financial options

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
PetroVietnam Securities Joint Stock Co continues to raise capital in its second phase as it plans to carry out one of two financial options.
With the first, the company could increase its charter capital to VND500 billion (US$31.2 million) and plan for revenue of VND200 billion, after-tax profits of VND72 billion and dividend payment of 11 per cent.
With the second, the company could maintain capital of VND150 billion and expect revenue of VND110 billion, after-tax profits of VND21 billion and dividends 10%, respectively.

Sai Gon General Service Corp will list shares on HOSE

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sai Gon General Service Corporation made pre-tax profits of VND80 billion (US$5 million) this year from total revenue of VND2.2 trillion ($137.5 million).
Shareholders would receive a 15% dividend, said the company’s general director, Nguyen Vinh Tho.
Savico will continue to invest its capital into three main fields, trading services (40 per cent), real estate (35 per cent) and financial investment (15 per cent).
It recently announced that it would list its shares, with the code SVC, on HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) instead of on the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre (HaSTC).

Foreigners Net Buyers Of VND3.9 Billion Of Shares

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Foreign investors were net buyers of VND3.9 billion ($244, 540) of Vietnamese stocks Tuesday, out of a total of VND39.9 billion traded, the Ho Chi Minh Securities Trading Center said.
Volume traded totaled 1.06 million shares, with foreigners accounting for 23.4%, said the stock market operator. (Dow Jones)

Vinamilk posts 29 pct increase in four-month revenue

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Co., the country’s biggest maker of dairy products, posted a 29% increase in revenue in the first four months of the year, the Ho Chi Minh City-based company said on its website.

Revenue rose to VND2.44 trillion (US$151 million) in the four months ended April 30, the company commonly known as Vinamilk said.

Pretax profit rose to VND457 billion, a 17% increase from a year earlier, the company said.

The firm had recently forecast that its net profit would rise more than 18% this year to VND1.14 trillion ($70.7 million).

It also said it expected revenues to jump 23% to VND8.2 trillion ($508.4 million).

Vinamilk, the largest company on the Ho Chi Minh City exchange with a capitalization of $1.49 billion, plans to list nearly 8.8 million shares overseas this year, increasing its registered capital by 5% to VND1.84 trillion

The company has said it want to list in Singapore. (Bloomberg)

ACB Bank names former minister chair

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Former Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Xuan Gia has been named chairman of Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB), one of the nation's leading commercial banks and one of only two banks, with shares listed on the nation's stock exchanges.

"I want to work and they need me," Gia told the newspaper Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon Marketing). "I don't think retirement means relaxation."

Gia was a member of the management board of a fund listed on the London Stock Exchange before accepting the Asia Commercial Bank position.

"Now I want to gain more experience in domestic business so I can contribute to the completion of the Law on Enterprises," he said. Gia headed a team for drafting the current version of the law several years ago.

"Furthermore, the law provides that the banks must have some independent members on their management boards to prevent the banks from being dominated by major shareholders."

Gia said he had received offers from various companies but chose Asia Commercial Bank because he knew and understood its ambitious staff who desired to improve their business.

Gia rejected any suggestion that the bank hoped to make use of his influence as a former Government minister.

"ACB is a reputable bank, and it doesn't need anyone to protect them," he said. "I accepted the position as chairman of the bank on the condition that its operations abide by the law and are not based on any personal relationships. I used to act as head of the team for drafting the Law on Enterprises, so how can I contravene the law?"

Asked if the presence of a former minister at the bank would bother officials from the State Bank, Gia said, "I cannot speak for them. As for me, I'll try my best not to make them uncomfortable. I know how to behave in the new position. A minister-turned-banker, I have to obey the law and bank regulations.

"I am prepared psychologically to confront a possible situation in which a former minister used to 'spitting fire' can get a talking-to as an employee."

Although he stepped down from his position at the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Gia has continued to play a role in policymaking. (VNS)

May 13, Stock market appears new bottom level, poised lower

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
After the week early session, the stock market fell from the 500-point threshold and once again there appeared a new bottom level instead of the previous 496.64 points. The falling impetus is to be continued today and marks the seven consecutive declining session of the stock market.

The VN-Index shed additional 8.12 pts or 1.65% points to 483.92 pts on extremely low demand compared to supply, and many now fear the market will further head south rather than bottom out soon.

Closing the first order matching, VN Index tumbled 7.27 pts with the trade of only over 350,000 shares and fund certificates for more than 14 billion dong.

Stepping to the second phase, all purchase orders were matched while the supply remained large until the end of the session.

During the session, only over one million shares and fund certificates were matched with a total value of nearly 40 billion dong. Over 40 share codes had no transaction.

No share code saw a rise in prices, eight namely BT6, HAX, HDC, ST8, TNA, VIS, VNE and VTC unchanged, 144 decreased and 143 of which plunged to the floor prices.

Only two stood at the comparative prices, including VTB of Tan Binh Electronics JSC and SGT of SaigonTel.

In terms of matching order trade, all shares witnessed a strong reduction. PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals (DPM), the most active share code recorded a trade of 230,630 shares changing hands, STB of Sacombank with 120,780 shares, SSI with 97,600 shares, VHC with 85,100 shares and VHG with 51,650 shares being traded.

Foreign investors continued reducing their purchase power. During the session, they bought 35 share codes with over 300,000 shares including 80,260 DPM coded shares, 80,000 VHC coded shares, 50,000 VHG coded shares and 31,010 NKD coded shares.

Regarding the northern bourse, the HaSTC-Index today continued falling 3.41 points or 2.25% to close at 147.86 pts with a total market trade of 535,700 shares for nearly 17.655 billion dong, including 347,800 shares traded under the quotation method for about 11.394 billion dong.

There were 10 share codes unchanged in prices while only three others increased, and the remaining 123 share codes declining. Three gainers included HPC up 1.84% from the previous session on a trade of 18,000 shares, VC3 up 0.34% on trade of 300 shares and VTL surging 0.49% with a trade volume of 1,100 shares. Meanwhile, prices of DTC, HSC, HUT, KBC, NPS, S55, SD3, SNG, VDL, and VTS unchanged.

ACB, BVS, MIC topped the decliners, particularly ACB fell 2.99%, BVS -3%.

Many investors, discouraged by the stocks’ poor performance, have sold their shares and decided to leave the stock market.

The foreign investors who bought in a large number of shares earlier were affected by the mood of their domestic peers and bought fewer shares than usual.

This is a difficult time for the stock market as it is impossible to predict how low the VN-Index can drop or when the government will be able to curb inflation, a key reason for the market’s weakness.