ACB reports 1.2tr dong profit from securities investment in 2007

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Up to December 31, 2007, Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB)'s total securities investment capital was over 9.636 trillion dong including more than 8.474 trillion dong invested in bonds (T-bills, G-bonds, state commercial banks' bills of exchange and bonds, electricity bonds), 4.8 billion dong invested in Nha Be Garment Co's corporate bonds and the remaining 1.178 trillion dong invested in shares.
The bank's vice chair Nguyen Duc Kien said that, the share investment capital of nearly 1.178 trillion dong accounted fro 2.8% of total investment portfolio and lending, and only 1.38% of its total asset of 101 trillion dong.
Last year ACB also earned about 1.2 trillion dong profit from share investment and withdrew all securities investment items so far within 2007 already.

MB issues bills of exchange in US dollar for plus interest rate

Saturday, May 10, 2008
In next two months, Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB) will issue the US dollar bills of exchange for bonus interest rate from May 6 to July 6 with the payment method in cash or account transfer. The bills of exchange have a term of 3, 7 and 11 months with the minimum face value of US$100 and its multiple.
The book entry bills carry a post-paid interest rate of 5.8% per annum.
Accordingly, the bonus interest rate is 0.01-0.1% per annum for each term whereby the interest rate of bills of exchange will be higher 5.6-5.8% pa of ordinary US dollar saving rates.
The bills can be mortgaged or sold back to the bank.
In addition, the bank also announced that it would pay a 2007 dividend of 30% in shares.
The deadline to close a list of shareholders receiving the dividend is 5pm on May 30, 2008.
Last year MB posted a chartered capital of two trillion dong, total ownership capital of nearly 3.550 trillion dong, increasing 2.57 times over the start of 2007.
As targeted, MB's chartered capital will be raised to 3.4 trillion dong within this year.

WTO entry challenges

Saturday, May 10, 2008
When Viet Nam entered into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), there were different warnings about the biggest challenges. At that time, trade minister Truong Dinh Tuyen said that the biggest challenge was retail sales, which, however, would happen in next several years.
Some experts said that the biggest challenge was labour and employment because the country would see bankruptcy of many businesses with weak efficiency and competitive capacity. However, such impact would be limited because the ratio of labour in the agriculture-forestry-seafood sector is high, and the scope of private economic sector has significantly developed. Setsuko Yamazaki, director of UNDP in Viet Nam put forward remarkable opinions, which have been becoming realistic. When being asked about the biggest challenge when Viet Nam enters into WTO, she said that "experience from other countries show that globalisation promises great awards such as accessing larger markets, more technologies and investment capital however globalisation also brings about significant risks. In my opinions, the financial sector has to face up the biggest risks. By now, Viet Nam is undergoing unexpected financial changes, which is demonstrated through inflation and price hike."

Since last year, inflation has happened in all over the world because of the increase of petroleum price, the depreciation of greenback. Inflation in almost all countries has been higher than previous years. Nevertheless, inflation in Viet Nam has been higher than other countries because of some factors. An important factor is that appraising prices of goods and services must be based on the market mechanism in line with commitments on deeper and wider integration into the world's economy. The growth of petroleum price at the end of last November pushed consumer price index in December by 2.91%, far higher than November's figure and December of previous years. Additionally, the hike of petroleum price at the end of February raised CPI in March by another 2.99% while the growth of CPI in March of previous years was negative. That has not yet mentioned other goods and services, which the government asked relevant agencies not to hike prices until June. If all things had increased as petroleum, inflation would not have been 12.63% in 2007 and 11.6% in the first four months but far higher.
Another factor is the dong/US dollar rate. With the strong inflows of US dollars into Viet Nam as in 2007 and early 2008, if the forex rate had been further revised downward in line with the depreciation of US dollars, Viet Nam would not have reported trade deficit of US$14.12 billion in 2007 and US$11.1 billion in the first four months but US$16 -17 billion and US$13 -14 billion respectively.
Additionally, if the government makes stronger monetary tightening, lending interest rates will climb to more or less than 25% and many small banks will go bankrupt, many businesses will shut down.
Particularly, over the last one-year, Viet Nam's stock market has gone ups and downs unexpectedly. Since the start of 2008, prices of shares have slashed sharply. The market capitalisation has reduced by hundreds of trillions of dongs. While reining inflation is now the top priority, monetary tightening is a necessary tool. When money is tightened, the amount of money that many investors borrow from banks to inject into the stock market will reduce, share prices will decline accordingly. When share prices are lower than mortgage prices, lifting mortgages will inevitably push down share prices. If lifting mortgages is not required to stop, share prices will further go down.
Financial risks will become dangerous if there is no foreign indirect investment management mechanism in order to direct into long-term investment, not only the stock market, the real estate market but also the forex rate and others will present unforeseeable changes.
The above issues require urgent reforms for public fiscal and financial policies, careful analysis in order to build proper policies and minimise risks. (Thanh Nien)

VIB Bank launches E-Savings product

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Vietnam International Bank (VIB Bank) recently launched E-Savings product to all transaction sites nationwide whereby customers are allowed to receive a higher interest rate when their saving balance increasing respectively (progressive interest rate).
E-Savings was connected two-way automatic money delivery with payment deposit accounts to ensure payment capacity and receive progressive interest rates.
This product is suitable to all customers, especially those who prefer using modern technology

MHB securities arm to issue bonds

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Mekong Delta Housing Development Bank's securities arm MHBS recently announced that it would retail three million ensured non-convertible bonds worth 300 billion dong at 100,000 dong par and the selling price of 100,000 dong per bond for the first phase under the bank's payment guarantee.
These five-year bonds have a coupon rate of 10% per annum for the first year and that of following years negotiated based on Vibor interest rate (Vietnam interbank offer rate) on April 5 yearly.
The coupon rate will be paid yearly on May 5 and the principal will be paid once on the mature date.

Chuong Duong beverages firm to buy back 100,000 fund shares

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Chuong Duong Beverages Joint Stock Co (coded SCD) recently announced that within one-month from May 15 to June 15, the company would buy back 100,000 SCD-coded shares to make fund shares under the mode of order matching or negotiating, bringing the company's total fund shares to 106,950 shares.
Ending the trading session on May 8, SCD-coded shares closed at 19,700 dong per share, increasing 200 dong in comparison with the previous session with 34,880 shares being traded.

Descon construction firm to pay 15% dividend

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Descon Industry Construction Joint Stock Co (coded DCC) this year targets to reach 457.04 billion dong in revenue, 37.24 billion dong from pre tax profit, 26.322 billion dong from after tax profit and dividend of 15%.
The shareholders' meeting also reported the business result of 2007 with 387.759 billion dong in revenue, 27.059 billion dong from pre tax profit and 19.504 billion dong from after tax profit.

Ry Ninh II hydropower firm to pay dividend of 20%

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) yesterday May 8 announced that the registration deadline for Ry Ninh II Hydropower Joint Stock Co (coded RHC) to close the list of shareholders is on May 26 and the ex-interest date on May 22.
The company will pay a dividend of 20% for 2007 on August 9, 2008.

Yen Bai Cement to list on Hanoi Securities Trading Center

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Yen Bai Cement and Natural Minerals Joint Stock Co (coded YBC) will officially list on the Hanoi Securities Trading Centre from May 20. After that, the company will sell shares to strategic shareholders including Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
Being restructured from Yen Bai cement plant, last year the company reached a revenue of 161.1 billion dong, profit of 9.2 billion dong and return on equity at 26.87%.

Hapaco to buy back 500,000-1m fund shares

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Hai Phong Paper Joint Stock Co (Hapaco) and its subsidiaries announced that they would buy back from 500,000 to one million HAP-coded shares to make fund shares, said the listed firm's chair Vu Duong Hien.

The company's shareholders' meeting also released the business result during the first four months of the year with a revenue increasing 43.87% and profit up 61.48% against the same period of last year.

In the period of 2008-2010, Hapaco has been investing in three big realty projects including 21-storey HAP-REE building, International Maternity Hospital project and Dinh Vu South industrial zone project.