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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 4/8
Scooters to
take bigger motorcycle market share
Motorcycle
producers have projected a bigger market share for scooters in
The market share
for scooters is estimated to increase to 40-42% of
Hoang Ha, director
of marketing at Yamaha Motor Vietnam in the northern region, said the domestic
motorcycle market in general has not performed well as the demand for manual
gear-box motorcycles tends to go down but scooter sales still fare well,
especially the fashionable high-class models.
As many as 2.5-2.8
million motorcycles were sold in
According to
motorcycle producers, more local consumers prefer new luxury scooters.
Piaggio
Costantino Sambuy,
general director of Piaggio
Piaggio aims to
produce and assemble 300,000 scooters in
Yamaha has recently
unveiled its new scooter Nozza Grande 125cc priced at VND40-42 million a unit
to compete with Honda Vietnam’s scooters including SH Mode and Lead 125cc and
even the scooters of Piaggio
Suzuki
Motorbike
manufacturers said in addition to prices and designs, local consumers also
pay much attention to fuel efficiency given the rising fuel prices in
Sugar firm
cuts strategic deals with three partners
Major sugar producer
Thanh Thanh Cong (TTC) Group on Monday signed strategic cooperation
agreements with three big foreign enterprises –PepsiCo Vietnam, ED&Fman
Group, and Pegas Touristik Company.
TTC Group and
PepsiCo
Both parties hoped
these new products would help the beverage company reduce cost and shorten
its production process.
In cooperation with
AD&Fman Group, TTC Group will be able to distribute its products to
foreign markets.
In the deal with
As Pegas Touristik
has plans to bring 250,000 Russian passengers to
TTC is now a large
private corporation with 20 subsidiaries and associated companies. It is
active in such sectors as tourism, real estate, sugarcane and financial
investment.
Total revenue of
this group amounted to VND6.5 trillion in the first half of this year, up 14%
compared to the same period of last year. In particular, the sugarcane sector
contributed VND5.4 trillion, while its tourism business generated VND350
billion.
Vietnam Airlines
obtained pre-tax profit of some VND100 billion (around US$4.7 million) in the
first half of this year while all of last year saw the carrier achieving a
staggering VND533 billion.
The airline said in
its updated report that its total revenues neared VND28 trillion in the period,
48.5% of the year’s target.
The corporation
carried more than eight million passengers on 62,088 flights, up 8.5% over
the same period last year and 0.5% higher than its target for the first six
months.
The number of
passengers on the airline’s international flights accounted for over three
million, up 10% versus the same period last year, and the guests on its
domestic services increased 7.6% to more than 4.95 million and 2.3% higher
than its target for the January-June period.
The national flag
carrier said a number of its international flights were affected by
Vietnam Airlines
will focus on restructuring and equitization plans as well as service
improvement in the second half of this year.
Lotte Mart
to sell Vietnam goods in S.Korea
South Korean
retailer Lotte Mart is proceeding with plans to sell aquatic and seafood
products, cashew nuts, coffee, apparel, footwear and other Vietnamese goods
at its 107 stores in
The plans to
promote Vietnamese goods at Lotte Mart’s stores in
The 10-day program
is taking place at the Lotte Mart stores in Saigon South, Binh Duong and Dong
Nai provinces until August 3. The event showcases as many as 100 Vietnamese
products, including foods and beverages, household appliances and clothes
among others.
Hong said the
program was aimed to build strong links between South Korean importers with
local suppliers and survey Korean consumers’ demand for Vietnamese products
in order to find appropriate items for export to the Northeast Asian market.
The exhibition is
co-organized by Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade) newspaper, Lotte Mart
AIA
AIA Vietnam Life
Insurance Company Limited, or AIA Vietnam, obtained year-on-year growth of
40% in new premiums and 129% in value of new contracts in the first six
months this year.
The life insurer
announced the business results on Monday. Stephen Clark, CEO of AIA Vietnam,
credited the strong growth to heavy investments in the company’s sales team,
diversification of services for customers and service quality.
AIA Vietnam has
opened more than 80 offices in 48 cities and provinces nationwide, and sold more
than 350,000 contracts to policyholders. As of late June this year, the
company had settled combined insurance payouts of over VND1.5 trillion
(US$70.7 million) for 228,000 cases.
Cheap Nokia
phones still on store shelves
Some retailers have
announced to maintain Nokia’s low-cost phones, including Nokia 105 and 106
models, on their store shelves.
The retailers
confirmed they would continue selling the products normally in the coming
time despite rumors that Nokia phones will not be sold on the local market
from next month.
Microsoft Mobile
has also rejected the rumors. In the coming time, Nokia will focus more on
smartphones but they will still produce Nokia X using Android operating
system, Asha phones and feature phones.
Earlier, some news
sites reported that Microsoft Mobile would stop selling Nokia X running on
Android operating system, Asha phones and feature phones from August. The
news reportedly came from a distributor.
According to the
retailer, Nokia had sent an official notice to its agents. But in fact,
Microsoft had announced to focus on Windows Phone and maintain feature phones
such as Nokia Asha, Series 40 and Nokia X with limited volumes.
Nguyen Bach Diep,
CEO of FPT Retail, said the Nokia feature phones are still available in the
FPT Shop network. However, smartphone sales are better than other products.
Diep said she just
read the information on some websites and Nokia
Some retailers said
that feature phones are an important segment of Nokia in
According to FPT
Shop, Nokia feature phones like Nokia 206, Nokia 106 and Nokia 105 were among
the 10 best-sellers in the first six months of the year.
Timatex
takes legal action against city taxman
Timatex Vietnam
Co., Ltd. has taken legal action against the HCMC Department of Tax, claiming
the department had wrongly imposed the contractor tax to the tune of nearly
US$2.8 million from 2009 and 2012.
The case attracted
the attention of participants at a dialogue between authorities and
foreign-invested enterprises in import and export fields in HCMC last week.
Nguyen Minh Sang,
who represented Timatex to present the case at the dialogue, said the HCMC
People’s Court accepted the company’s case on April 2 this year but has not
opened a hearing.
Sang said the
announcement that “Timatex no longer operates but has not closed its tax
code” has made it difficult for the company to submit reports online and
register personal income tax codes for its employees.
Worse still, the
announcement did exist on the Japan-funded Vietnam Automated Cargo Clearance
and Port Consolidated System (VNACCS), which came online in HCMC on June 30,
threatening the survival of Timatex as it has disenabled the company to
import or export goods. Stockpiles built up at Timatex while materials could
not be imported to process goods for the orders already signed with foreign
clients.
Reporting the
situation to the HCMC Tax Department on July 1, Timatex had its tax code
reactivated the following day but the company was unable to complete import
and export procedures at Linh Trung Export Processing Zone 2 as the VNACSS
system failed to get the update.
Timatex reported
the problem to the HCMC Department of Customs but the reply was that no one
could intervene in the automated system, and the best way for the company is
to wait for a couple of days to have its problem solved.
Timatex’s tax code
was activated on the VNACSS system on the afternoon of July 7 after the
company had exerted effort to contact the HCMC Department of Customs and the
General Department of Customs.
The incident caused
heavy losses for Timatex, Sang said.
Therefore, Sang
proposed the General Department of Customs publicize hotlines for businesses
to seek assistance in addressing their problems. Customs agencies should have
competent units in charge of solving the difficulties of enterprises
effectively after getting their complaints or requests.
ETF
capturing investor attention
ETF VFMVN30,
“ETF is a brand new
product, thus it is no surprise that it will be the center of attention,”
said Chau Thien Truc Quynh, brokerage manager of VietCapital Securities.
According to her,
this new initiative is much likely to be well received since the VN30Index
possesses three-fourths of the stock value being traded on the market. This
group consists of 30 leading high-liquidity stocks owned by companies with
the highest capitalization ratio in HOSE.
Over the past three
or four years, FTSE Vietnam Index ETF and The Market Vector Vietnam, which
altogether capture a huge equity value of roughly US$1 billion, have been
reported to account for significant market fluctuations early each fiscal
quarter whenever they add or remove some sticker symbols in their portfolio
charters.
Quynh said, “The
periodical restructuring and adjustment of the stock tickers in the group’s
portfolio early each quarter are paving the way for new opportunities which
are appealing to all investors.”
“ETF is kind
of brand new stuff, so it takes some time for investment gurus to get
acquainted to the fund,” said Trinh Hoai Giang, deputy director of HCMC
Securities Company.
As a member of VN30
Index Committee, Giang said he can’t recall how many times identical
questions have been raised by curious investors, something like “Why should I
purchase fund certificates managed by someone else rather than running my own
securities portfolios?” he added, “You might want to spend a huge bunch of
money sewing your own clothes, yet there are similar items of outfit on the
market sold at much lower prices.”
His metaphoric
comparison is drawn upon a reality. Over the past six or seven years, both
individual and institutional investors in the domestic stock market have
struggled desperately with just a few success stories. The starter of this
year seemed fair with the VN-Index scoring nearly 100 points in Quarter 1,
peaking at a record of above 600 points for the first time after four years.
However, Ngo Cong
Duc, a trader of HCMC Securities Company (HSC) situated at
Duc has been
consistently trading on the stock exchange for at least seven years, yet he
is not an exception from the group of investors who have seen six profitless
months in a streak, while during the same phase, VN30 made an impressive
growth of 14%. Supposing that Duc had shifted his money into VN30, he would
have now filled his pocket with VND14 million interest out of VND100 million
investment thanks to the index fund escalation.
ETF VFMVN30 is an
exchange-traded fund that replicates at the closest extent possible to any
changes of the reference index - VN30. ETF portfolio is somewhat
proportionate with the component basket of VN30Index.
In reality, VN30
has just edged down by 10% compared to its peak, a sharp drop caused by the
Nguyen Dich Thanh,
deputy director of HOSE’s R&D Department, says that the appearance of ETF
as the first local exchange-traded fund is consistent with the flourishing
trend of domestic stock market over the last 20 years.
Most notably, ETF
has registered a quantitative growth rate of 15 times, reaching 3,000 smaller
inner funds by end-2013. ETF is so affluent thanks to its success in
rectifying the typical limitation of liquidity faced by open-end funds and
price discount commonly seen in closed-end funds.
Stock trader Duc
confirmed his interest in ETF, yet he is still hesitant. This investment
psycho can be perceived in all stock exchanges though ETF training rooms are
always full.
Explaining this
reality, Giang said individual investors tend to be cautious when it comes to
new products even though fund certificates can ensure good profit if
investors know how to pick them up at the right time. “HSC is investing in
certificates VF1, VF4, and VFA, and we are earning initial profit of 60%.”
Giang claimed that
local investors will need some extra time to see what happens next,
especially to the new local ETF. Foreign investors might be more interested
in this product since there are not sufficient expat-investors in
“Trading of
such exchange-traded funds like ETF will become more bustling in the next
five or seven years, yet we need to take actions now to tap future potentials
of this new fund,” said Vu Bang, Chairman of the State Securities Commission
of Vietnam, at a conference held early this year to address new solutions for
sustaining local stock market development.
Taiwan
promotes products, brands in Vietnam
The Taiwan External
Trade Development Council (TAITRA) launched an international campaign in
The Taiwan
Excellence campaign highlights 45 brands in sectors such as information
technology, household appliances, and sport and healthcare equipment,
including Acer, BenQ, HTC, Transcend, Caesar and Kymco.
The campaign is
part of
Local consumers
will have the opportunity to try Taiwanese goods. The first event was
organized at
Statistics from the
Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that
Thanh Hoa
road needs additional financing
State-run
Ngo Viet Hai,
general director of Power Generation Corporation 2 (EVNGENCO2), investor in
the hydropower project, said the plant’s timetable cannot be achieved if the
road is not finished before the end of May next year.
According to Vice
Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Ngoc Hoi,
flooding caused by the construction of the Trung Son plant forced the
committee to change the road’s route, which lengthened it by 6.2 kilometres.
Currently the road needs VND578.2 billion ($26 million) in additional funding
to reach completion.
The state-run
Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) and the Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee
have several times warned the prime minister and ministries about the
problem, to which they have given no answer.
A representative
from EVN, at a recent meeting between Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial
People’s Committee Trinh Van Chien, the group and the World Bank (WB), said
that EVN was facing difficulties providing the needed capital to the Thanh
Hoa plant, as it is also having to borrow money for its own investment.
As for the country
director of the WB in Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa, she said the state could use
$26 million out of a recent WB’s $200 million loan provided to the country. Another
solution she proposed was to provide Thanh Hoa a new loan to finish the road,
but said the lending process was overly time-consuming.
Chien said EVN’s
representative has agreed to ask the prime minister and other authorities to
arrange the needed capital.
The 260 megawatt
Trung Son hydropower plant started construction in 2012 and is expected to
operate in 2017. It has the total investment capital of $410.68 million,
including a $330 million WB loan and the remainder from EVN.
Banking
experts advocate M&A drive
Cross ownership and
excessive ownership has put banks into deep hardship and M&A seems to be
the only way out.
According to the
State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), small-scale, weak banks will be merged in the
near future to reduce the total number of banks in the country to 20-25.
“To best compete,
banks should unite in developing technology, personnel, and also management
model,” said SBV former governor Cao Sy Khiem. M&A can help prevent
manipulation through cross ownership and excessive ownership in banks,” he
added.
Joining Khiem,
banking expert Huynh Buu Son said “M&A is one way to buy us more time,
and we have to act now.” According to Son, total individual customer deposit
capital is now eight to ten times that of shareholders’ capital.
“We need to respect
the capital we use. It belongs to the citizens,” Son underscored.
Under the Law on
Credit Institutions 2010, the ownership rate is capped at 5 per cent of the
chartered capital for individual shareholders, 20 per cent for affiliated
shareholders (often family) and 15 per cent for organisational-based
shareholders.
However, over the
three years since the law came into effect, major shareholders of many banks
have been discovered violating the regulation on ownership limitations,
reported the SBV.
Five banks were
found to have individual shareholders with over 5 per cent ownership, another
five had organisational shareholders controlling larger than regulated
stakes, and eight had affiliated shareholders controlling combined stakes
that exceeded the 20 per cent cap.
The SBV has
requested that all banks, expect those with restructuring plans approved by
the prime minister and SBV, eliminate excessive ownerships no later than
March 31, 2015.
If they do not meet
this deadline, shareholders and groups will be forced to transfer their
shares to the SBV and may lose their voting rights and the ability to stand
for a post on a supervisory board.
Additionally, the
draft amendment to the Law on Credit Institutions 2010 forbade credit
institutions from granting new credit to shareholders or groups with
excessive ownership. Banks are also required to halt all transactions with
the aforementioned.
Son underscored,
“We need a change from within, to respect banking regulations, business
ethics, and also the money of the people. It doesn’t matter how many banks
there are, it matters that they work.”
Over 42,000
new enterprises established in seven months
Nearly 42,400
enterprises were formed nationwide in the first seven months of the year,
with a total registered capital of VND262.4 trillion (US$12.33 billion), down
7% in the number of new businesses and up 17.8% in capital compared with the
same period of 2013.
The average
registered capital per newly established enterprise was VND6.19 billion
(US$290,930), a year-on-year increase of 26.7%. Over 629,000 labourers are
expected to earn employment at the new companies, surging 6.5% against last
year.
The period also saw
37,612 enterprises dissolved and suspending operations, representing an
increase of 9.8% against the previous year. Of this, 5,610 enterprises were
dissolved; 6,774 businesses temporarily halted operation with registration;
and the remaining 25,228 ceased their operation in wait for payment of enterprise
code or without registration.
Total registered
capital of those in difficulties which are bound to stop operation reached
VND291.6 trillion (US$13.7 billion), accounting for 84.5% of the total
capital supplemented during the period.
As many as 9,428
businesses have resumed operation in seven months, decreasing by 6.4% against
the same period last year.
Promoting
agricultural exports to Israel
The Middle Eastern
nation of
Two-way trade
turnover between
According to the
Vietnam Trade Office (VTO) in
In the first six
months of the year,
The VTO in
Vietnam Customs’
statistics reflect that agricultural exports to
Major agricultural
export products included seafood (US$42.4 million), coffee (US$25.9 million),
cashew nuts (US$23.8 million), peppers (US$7.5 million), rice (US$5.9
million), rubber (US$3.2 million) and other products like vegetables and
fruit, tea, cassava and sweet fennel (US$1 million).
With a population
of more than 8 million people,
Last year,
The country is also
the third largest importer of seafood (around 20%), rice (16%) and rubber
(7%) and the fourth largest importer of pepper (8%).
The VTO in
Once the political
unrest and conflict in the region is dealt with effectively,
The key to the
prospects for enhanced cooperation with
This provides a
great opportunity for the two nations to cooperate in agriculture, and
Experts are
optimistic that
In addition, the
ministry has actively worked to expand export markets with Israel for
agricultural and seafood products by reducing tax, opening market and
removing trade barriers through negotiations on Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP) agreement and the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (VEFTA).
It has also
enhanced opportunities for finding potential partners and markets for businesses
and updating them with protectionism, trade barriers and trade lawsuits of
import markets.
Nielsen:
The Vietnam
Consumer Confidence Index reached 98 points in the second quarter of 2014, a
slight drop from the previous quarter, as people were more concerned about
personal finance and job prospects over the next 12 months, according to
Nielsen.
According to the
latest global survey of consumer confidence and spending recently released by
the global information and measurement company, only 44% of online
respondents thought their job is good or excellent while more than half (53%)
are positive at the same level about their personal finance.
These numbers are
both lower than the regional average at 65% and 62% respectively.
The survey showed
38% of respondents thought this year will be good time to buy things they
want and need. This proportion stays below the regional average (42%) and
other neighbors such as
Nielsen’s survey
revealed that although Southeast Asian consumers remain among the world’s
most optimistic, they have been less bullish in recent months in the face of
escalating political instability around the region and rising food prices.
Consistent with
their cautious confidence levels, Nielsen said consumers in
Eight in 10
Vietnamese respondents (79%) chose to save spare cash after covering all the
essential living expenses, the highest rate over the past three years and
much higher than regional average at 62%.
Thai consumers are
the most-committed in Southeast Asia to keeping an eye on their household
expenses as more than nine in 10 (92%) have changed their spending in the
past year to save on household expenses.
In
When it comes to
keeping household expenses in check, limiting spending on new clothes is the
most common focus for Southeast Asian consumers, along with cutting down on
out-of-home entertainment and trying to save on gas and electricity.
“Together with a
dramatic fall in the last six months within Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)
in Vietnam, this report once again gives us a very clear picture of how
Vietnamese consumers react to the current economy as well as their concerns
in the coming months,” said Vaughan Ryan, managing director of Nielsen
Vietnam.
“The sentiment remained
relatively flat in the second-quarter report and we do expect the market
sentiment to pick up towards the end of the year.”
Established in
2005, the survey measures consumer confidence, major concerns, and spending
intentions amongst more than 30,000 respondents with Internet access.
Jan-Jul
industrial index up 6.2%
The index of
industrial production (IIP) achieved a year-on-year growth rate of 7.5% in
July and 6.2% in the seven-month period, Vietnamplus reports, citing a report
of the General Statistics Office.
According to the
report, the processing and manufacturing industry recorded growth of 8.1%
versus last year’s same period, and contributed 5.7 percentage points to the
sector’s overall growth. It was followed by electricity generation and distribution
with 11.4% growth and 0.8 percentage point, and water supply, waste and
wastewater treatment with 6.5% growth and 0.1 percentage point.
However, mining was
in decline in the period with a 1.7% drop.
Industries posting
high year-on-year growth also included the manufacture of electronic,
computer and optical products at 34.9%; motorized vehicles 21.2%; leather and
leather products 20.5%; and textiles 19.2%.
Although production
and consumption witnessed positive changes, the inventory index, as shown in
the report, was increasing.
On July 1, the
inventory of the industry inched up 13.2% year-on-year, well above the
8.8% recorded a year ago, and the average inventory rise in the January-June
period was 77.2%. Pharmaceuticals, chemicals and chemical products and food
processing were among those reporting high inventory increases in the period
with 161.2%, 127.1% and 98.2% respectively.
The number of newly
established enterprises in the January-July period was 42,398 with total
registered capital of VND262.4 trillion, down 7% in the number and up 17.8%
in capital compared to last year’s same period.
In July alone,
there were 5,083 new enterprises set up with registered capital totaling
VND31.518 trillion.
However, the number
of enterprises going bust and suspending operations in the first seven months
was rather high, at 37,612, rising by 9.8% year-on-year.
Social
insurance files to get digitized
All the social
insurance files at the HCMC Social Insurance agency are expected to be
digitized by the end of this year, said the contractor in charge of this
digitization for the State-owned insurance agency.
Khue Tu Company,
the supplier of this digitization solution, said its online system currently
can handle an average of 800-1,000 insurance files daily. The company said it
is now turning over the system to the authorities of the city’s social insurance
agency.
This project was
introduced on a trial basis at the end of last year and has been put into
operation this July.
As planned, all the
social insurance files stored at the agency will get digitized by the end of
this year. It is estimated that the headquarters and other agencies located
in the city’s districts are holding millions of social insurance files.
The social
insurance sector will also assemble all the data over the Internet so that
policyholders in the upcoming time can visit the website and check their data
online.
In Vietnam, the
procedures, documents and benefits of social insurance that are often
described as inconvenient due to the poor information technology application
have caused numerous obstacles to beneficiaries.
Bank
reassures depositors after senior execs arrests
Vietnam
Construction Bank (VNCB) has reassured its clients that their deposits are
guaranteed as the bank’s liquidity remains stable after its chairman and
general director were detained by police.
A source from the
bank said with support from the State Bank of
The HCMC branch of
the central bank has assigned an inspection team, led by a deputy director of
the branch, to monitor the bank in order to give timely assistance in case
the bank has to deal with any unexpected events, another source told the
Daily.
The team has worked
with other local lenders to prepare enough cash in case VNCB customers want
their deposits back, it said.
However, the bank
has made efforts to keep its customers and so far just a few have made
withdrawals.
On July 28, the
VNCB board decided to remove chairman Pham Cong Danh and general director
Phan Thanh Mai from their posts.
One day later,
Ministry of Public Security investigation police detained Danh, Mai and Mai
Huu Khuong, a former member of the bank’s board, according to the State Bank
of
The three former executives
were accused of intentionally violating State regulations on economic
management causing serious consequences at the HCMC-based Thien Thanh
Corporation in accordance with Article 165 of the Criminal Code.
Before the arrests,
Danh, born in 1965, had also served as chairman of Thien Thanh while Mai,
born in 1971, had been general director of the company.
The central bank
has recently approved new senior executives for the bank.
Vu Bach Yen, member
of the bank’s board since February 2012, is now new chairwoman while Dam Minh
Duc, former deputy general director of the bank, has taken up the post of
general director replacing Phan Thanh Mai.
Viettel
distributes iPad in
Vietnamese telecom
firm Viettel started on July 30 to distribute iPads in
Viettel sells iPad
Air Cellular and iPad mini Retina Cellular at its stores nationwide. This is
the first time a local mobile service provider has cooperated with Apple to
distribute iPads on the domestic market.
Viettel and another
local major mobile service provider, VinaPhone, have been authorized as
iPhone distributors in
A source from
VinaPhone told the Daily that it does not have plans to distribute iPads in
Besides Viettel,
iPads are also sold on the local market by FPT Group, which has been in
partnership with Apple since 2005. FPT started with distributing iPads,
Macbooks and iPods to electronics shops in
The group has set
up its F.Studio shop chain in the three levels of APR (Apple Premium
Reseller),
FPT said revenues
of Apple products at its F.Studio and iConner rise 30% annually.
Buyers of Apple
products sold via official distributors are granted a 12-month warranty.
Traffic
congestion sends commodity prices up
Prolonged
congestion on the road leading to Phu My Bridge in HCMC’s District 7 and
mounting backlogs at
Trinh Chau Khanh,
director of Kim Loi Minh Transport Company, told the Daily that he has
received a lot of complaints about late deliveries from export and import
firms.
According to Khanh,
his company’s goods delivery is now one hour later than usual due to traffic
congestion on Phu My Bridge. With each hour of congestion, a truck with two
containers consumes an additional 20 liters of oil, let alone other costs.
Do Xuan Phu,
director of Minh Lien Transport Company, shared this point, saying many of
his clients have complained about late deliveries. “Export and import firms
do not need to know about transport infrastructure but only care about
delivery schedules.”
Phu added his
company could deliver two containers of goods in one day in the past but the
volume is halved now due to congested roads. Congestion not only pushes up
costs but also pushes down revenues by 30% as the company has to cover fuel
costs.
He also expressed
concerns that the deteriorating quality of Mai Chi Tho Street and the eastern
ring road could further aggravate congestion.
Regarding the
rising backlogs at Cat Lai Port, Gia Long Company director Tran Viet Tien
said his company had to bear many additional costs arising from materials to
storage. As a result, business associations in HCMC and neighboring areas
should raise their voice about the increasing fees of container storage at
the port to cope with the difficulties firms are facing, and policies should
be revised consistently, he said.
As costs keep
rising, enterprises and consumers are the ones who suffer, said Nguyen Lam
Vien, general director of Vinamit Company.
Ho Hoang Bao Vinh,
director of A Dong Transport Trading Company, said that when the storage fee
at the port goes up, the company has no choice but to increase commodity
prices correspondingly to ensure their profit margins.
New
business startups not appealing to fund managers
Two foreign
investment funds Monk’s Hill Ventires (MHV) and Media Partners (DMP) at a
recent screening seminar were unable to find new business startups in
Tech In Asia Arena,
which organized the seminar, chose six out of 32 newly-established
enterprises to introduce themselves to DMP and MHV.
Hannah Nguyen,
representative of DMP, said there were many factors influencing her fund’s
investment decisions, especially revenue and potential development of the
chosen companies.
Firstly, the annual
revenue has to reach US$700,000. This revenue is calculated by multiplying
the most recent three-month revenues by four.
Secondly, the
companies’ operations must have been stable at home and suitable to expand
abroad. In addition, their management boards must have the ability to control
all operations in case of their directors’ absence.
However, all
applicants failed to meet the two funds’ requirements.
Six business
startups presented at the conference included Triip, BabyMe, Cloudjet
Solutions, Direct Data, VES – Clean Tech for Life, and Kool Things.
Among the above
firms, Triip, a local travel company, could not meet these stringent
conditions due to its low revenue and unstable business development though
experts highly appraised its presentation.
Gwendolyn Regina T,
representative of Tech In Asia, said the chosen projects had to meet three
following requirements, namely a suitable business model, extensive
distribution channels, and commercialization of the projects’ products.
Gwendolyn added
most of projects were just the young’s business ideas, which have not been
implemented in reality.
PVCFC
proposes gas price cut
PetroVietnam Ca Mau
Fertilizer Company Limited (PVCFC) is seeking Government support for reducing
the gas price for fertilizer production after its equitization this year,
with an aim to shorten the capital recovery period and help the company cope
with difficulties.
The proposal was
made by Bui Minh Tien, general director of PVCFC, when a Government
delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh had a working visit to
the gas-power-fertilizer industrial complex in Ca Mau Province Tuesday.
According to Tien,
the fertilizer price has been going down while PVCFC has had to pay high
interest for bank loans since it started operations two years ago,
chinhphu.vn reports. The fertilizer producer is expected to launch its
initial public offering in the fourth quarter before becoming a
shareholder-held concern.
Deputy Prime
Minister Vu Van Ninh applauded PVFC’s efforts in equitization but stressed
that the gas price should be driven by market forces.
Ninh said that
during the initial period after the IPO, the Government would hold a majority
stake but gradually decrease its ownership at the enterprise.
The US$2-billion
Complex of Gas - Electricity - Fertilizer in U Minh District in the
southernmost
The PM3-Ca Mau gas
pipeline with an annual capacity of two billion cubic meters of gas has
transported ten billion cubic meters to Ca Mau 1 and 2 power plants and Ca
Mau urea plant. Total revenue has reached some VND34.7 trillion.
The gas-fired Ca
Mau 1 and 2 power plants, which were commissioned at the end of 2008, have
generated 48 billion KWh for the national grid.
Ca Mau urea plant
has a designed capacity of 800,000 tons of urea a year. After two years of
operation, the factory has turned out more than 1.7 million tons of
fertilizer for agricultural production, generating more than VND13.8
trillion. Especially, the total investment of this project was US$700
million, US$200 million lower than the original estimate.
Vingroup to
open new center in Halong
Vingroup Joint
Stock Company will open its new Vincom Center Halong on October 19 as a
shopping and entertainment complex meeting international standards in
With four stories
and one basement, Vincom Center Halong is built on a total area of nearly
over 3.7 hectares modeled after the European royal architecture.
A highlight of the
center is an ice-rink measuring 830 square meters, which can serve up to 100
ice skaters at a time. Other attractions in this new facility include a
gaming center with hundreds of slot machines and a playground for children
along with seven studios for cinema lovers.
The fashion center
and supermarket are two other noteworthy facilities at Vincom Center Halong.
Covering an area of more than 900 square meters, the fashion center features products
of renowned domestic and international brands while the 3,500-square-meter
supermarket offers essential goods for consumers.
Vincom Center
Halong is the first shopping mall and entertainment center outside
With three Vincom
trade centers and two Vincom Mega Malls in HCMC and
After its Vincom
Center Halong, the group will continue to expand its retail system to other
cities and provinces, with
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Chủ Nhật, 3 tháng 8, 2014
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