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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 7/10
Standard
Chartered picks up stake in leading agro firm
Standard Chartered
Private Equity’s investment into An Giang Plant Protection Company is
expected to facilitate robust growth of the firm.
Asset management
firm VinaCapital announced late last month that its Vietnam Opportunity Fund
(VOF) had reached a deal to sell its entire stake in An Giang Plant
Protection Company to Standard Chartered Private Equity – a subsidiary of
Standard Chartered Bank.
Accordingly, VOF
will sell its 23.6 per cent stake in An Giang Plant Protection for $63.1
million in cash, or $4.10 per share, representing a 23.7 per cent internal
rate of return over a period of five years.
Initially, VOF
invested in An Giang Plant Protection as a private equity investment and has
seen it become a public company with over 100 shareholders. The replacement
of VOF by Standard Chartered Private Equity is expected to create positive
change in An Giang Plant Protection, a leading Vietnamese agriculture
company.
“I believe Standard
Chartered Private Equity is well aligned with An Giang's mission and vision,
so after this transaction there is a very strong alignment between the board
and the shareholders in terms of how the business will grow and what the
priorities are over the coming years,” said Chris Freund, partner of
Vietnam-focused fund management firm Mekong Capital, which is also investing
into An Giang through its Vietnam Azalea Fund.
“Standard Chartered
Private Equity’s global presence and its experience as an investor in
agricultural companies in other countries will be useful for An Giang,”
Freund continued.
Founded in 1993, An
Giang Plant Protection Joint Stock Company is the leading distributor and a
manufacturer of crop protection chemicals (CPC) in
With a nationwide
distribution network of 25 branches and nearly 500 large-sized wholesale
agents, the company controls 30 per cent of CPC market share. Since 2010, An
Giang has expanded into the rice processing and trading business, with a goal
of becoming the leading vertically-integrated agricultural service provider
in
As a result of this
strategy, An Giang had five rice factories in operation by the end of 2013,
each with a maximum designed processing capacity of 200,000 tonnes of paddy
rice per year. In the next four years, the domestic leading agricultural
company plans to develop 12 rice processing factories serving the total
farming area of 316,000 hectares, equivalent to 8.1 per cent of the Mekong
Delta’s farming area.
Freund said a
customer focused development strategy was key driver in the strong growth of
An Giang over the past year. In addition, AGPPS is a unique company in
According to
VinaCapital, in 2013 An Giang reported revenue of $354 million, an increase
of over 17 per cent on-year. During the same period, the company’s earnings
grew over 18.8 per cent, reaching $24 million.
Revenue for the
first half of 2014 was approximately $200 million, roughly half of the
company’s full year target of $399 million, while first half 2014 net income
was $12 million. Given the success of An Giang, stakeholders see this company
as a quality investment.
“This significant
divestment highlights the quality of VOF's overall investment portfolio,”
said Andy Ho, VinaCapital’s chief investment officer.
The price that VOF
sold to Standard Chartered Private Equity, at $4.10 per share, also brings a
bright outlook for other shareholders at An Giang.
“The price of this
transaction represents a 4.2x return for Vietnam Azalea Fund and a 31.1 per
cent investment return ratio in USD. While this return is attractive, we
still believe there is a lot of upside in the company and there is a role for
us to play, which will also lead to significant growth opportunities,” said
Freund.
Since becoming the
shareholder of An Giang, Mekong Capital has been working closely with the
company in some areas such as the management reporting systems, evaluating
ERP software, building the domestic rice business, and creating alignment
between the various stakeholders to empower the company's mission of
transforming agriculture, and the lives of farmers in
“We would like to
continue as a shareholder in the next phase of An Giang’s expansion, as it
becomes more of a total solutions provider to farmers, and also continues to
expand its vertically integrated rice business,” he added.
Vingroup
buys supermarket chain from OceanMart
Vingroup Joint
Stock Company announced Friday that it has bought a 70 percent stake in the
Ocean Retail company and will officially change the name of its supermarket
chain from OceanMart to VinMart.
As a result of the
move, Vingroup now owns 13 commercial centers and supermarkets previously
known as OceanMart.
Le Khac Hiep,
deputy chairman of Vingroup, said his firm will build around 40 more
supermarkets across
In addition,
Vingroup will also establish its own chain of convenience stores named
VinMart, each of which will cover 150 – 300 square meters.
It is expected that
VinMart will have around 100 supermarkets and 1,000 convenience stores across
the nation by 2017.
The retail market
in
Vingroup, formerly
known as Technocom, was first established in 1993 in
Now, it is one of
the leaders in the tourism industry, with a series of international five-star
hotels, resorts, beach villas, entertainment parks, and golf courses in
Petrochemical
projects put
Originally, the
development plan through 2020 included three refinery projects: Dung Quat
Refinery in Quang Ngai, Nghi Son in Thanh Hoa and Long Son in Ba Ria - Vung
Tau. Since then, however, two more, Vong Ro Refinery in Phu Yen) and Nam Van
Phong Refinery in Khanh Hoa, have been added, and another is awaiting the
approval of the government.
Although so many
oil refineries may be good for the petroleum industry, many people are
concerned about the environmental effects according to Nguyen Dong Hai,
former leader of Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN),
Hai said
According to Hai,
there is also an economic risk. The country likely to get the most benefit
from the development of
"Cooperation
with other countries is essential for a prosperous economy. However, we need
to choose wisely which role we play with our partners, and have clear
management strategies so that we benefit from cooperation. This is necessary to
have sustainable development," Hai noted.
Lotte
Centre
Right after the
opening of Lotte Centre Hanoi, the price of high-end products sold here
dropped to 50% but the sales did not go up.
Lotte Centre Hanoi
was located on
The building opened
on Sep. 2, National Independent Day, after 5 years of construction and was a
huge success. However, soon after that, Lotte Centre Hanoi had a great slump
regardless of the great sales.
On Sep. 25, one of
Lotte Centre Hanoi's elevator freefell from lever 63 and then stuck in the
way down with seven people inside.
One of the victim
who stuck in the elevator said: "When seven of us was rescued, the
representative of the building, who is a foreigner, came. Even though there's
a translator, this person only said sorry."
Petrolimex
earns US$67.3 million profit in nine months
The total turnover
of the state-run corporation during the nine months reached VND155 trillion
($7.45 billion), up six percent against the same period last year, according
to Petrolimex chairman Bui Ngoc Bao.
However, the CEO
added that the majority of the profit comes from other trading fields as
petro-chemistry, insurance, water transport, and construction; while
petroleum contributes only forty percent of the total amount.
Since the start of
this year, Petrolimex has strictly followed the rules of the government in
adjusting the prices of fuel when there is change in the prices in the world.
Bao also suggested
the Ministry of Finance to lower petrol import tax because of the competition
of foreign firms that sell fuel at sea for fishing ships outside the maritime
border of
Last year,
Petrolimex’s total revenues topped VND196.33 trillion (US$9.26 billion),
dropping slightly by 2.25 percent from 2012.
However, its pretax
profits surged 97 percent from VND978.17 billion in 2012 to VND1.93 trillion,
or $91.04 million, in 2013.
Profits from fuel
trading activity alone accounted for VND768 billion ($37 million) of the sum.
Can Tho
calls for Japanese investment in key projects
At a meeting with
Japanese business representatives on October 4, Can Tho provincial
authorities called for investment in 12 key projects and committed to
providing incentives for them in terms of preferential loans and assistance
with land clearance.
Nguyen Khanh Tung,
Director of the Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Centre (ITTC)
highlighted the 12 key projects, which are in the hi-tech, tourism,
logistics, industrial zones’ infrastructure and real estate sectors.
For his part, Vice
President of the Friendship Exchange Council (FEC) Yoshihiko Nakagaki said
the visit to Can Tho aims to seek investment opportunities in energy, food
industry, logistics, industrial zones’ infrastructure, housing, hi-tech
solutions and engineering.
Japanese businesses
also want to know more about the city’s incentives, he said, adding that they
hope Can Tho will facilitate and support them in dealing with investment
procedures.
On the same day,
the Japanese delegation visited local rice and seafood production plants in
Thot Not district and Tra Noc IZ.
According to the
ITTC, Can Tho mainly exports rice, seafood, garment, leather products,
handicrafts to Japan and imports chemicals, materials, seafood medicine and
other input materials.
Currently, five
Japanese businesses are operating in Can Tho.
Workshop
seeks ways to increase business competitiveness
A workshop was held
in the central city of Danang on October 3, offering a chance for
authorities, economists and businesses in the city and other central
localities to discuss ways to increase competitiveness in the country’s
economic integration and restructuring process.
Nguyen Dinh Thien,
head of the Institute of Economics, said that to help enterprises find the
right way for development and accelerate economic restructuring, a high-level
institutionalised market economic zone should be set up in Ho Chi Minh City
while special economic zones should be established in the three strategic
areas which are northern Quang Ninh province’s Ha Long-Van Don, southern Kien
Giang province’s Phu Quoc Island and the southern coastal province of Ba
Ria-Vung Tau.
He also stressed
the need to swiftly revise the State Budget Law and relevant laws in order to
make funds allocated to localities reasonably.
Vo Duy Khuong, Vice
Chairman of Danang People’s Committee said the city now has 15,000
businesses, of which 99% are small and medium-sized.
So far this year,
1,200 enterprises have had to dissolve or temporarily stop operation due to
the gloomy market’s impact and lack of production capital.
He reported that
the city has carried out practical measures to support local businesses,
adding that in the time to come, Danang will focus on developing more big
businesses, with priority given to the fields of tourism, services and high
technology.
According to a
pending project on enterprise development by 2020, the city sets targets of
raising the number of businesses by 10% per year, and creating jobs for
additional 31,000 people annually.
Military
bank cited strongest in Vietnam
The Vietnam
Military Joint Stock commercial Bank (MB) has been named as the Strongest
Bank in Vietnam 2014 by Asian Banker magazine.
The bank met all
six evaluation criteria of the magazine including scale of the banks’ assets
relative to domestic GDP, balance sheet growth of net loans and deposits,
risk management, profitability and its sustainability, strength and
credibility of loans disbursed, and liquidity of assets to meet negative
events requiring cash outflow.
The award is
recognition of the regional and international financial community to MB’s
prestige, stature, financial strength and high growth rate.
Over past years,
thanks to its sustainable growth and efficient business operation, MB also
won a number of domestic and foreign prizes including 2013 Gold National Quality
award of Vietnamese Government, Best Domestic Bank in Vietnam 2013-2014 of
Asian Money, and “World Class” 2014 of the Asia Pacific Quality Organisation
(APQO).
Vietnam's
economic achievements highlighted at WTO Public Forum
In a keynote
address to the 2014 WTO Public Forum, Ambassador Nguyen Trung Thanh,
“As a consequence
of innovation and new technologies, the Southeast Asian nation is
experiencing solid economic growth and job creation and is rapidly
integrating deeper into the global economy,” Thanh said.
New tools and
technologies are changing the traditional way of doing business and are
leading to the development of a whole new digitalized economy, with expanded
investment opportunities.
Since
He reported in the
first 8 months of this year,
However, rapid
economic growth in previous years was impeded by the cautious restructuring
of the banking sector and State-owned enterprises (SoEs).
Asides this,
economic growth in an open market mechanism is imposing a burden on natural
resources, sustainable environmental development while widening the gap
between rich and poor, and between rural and urban areas.
However,
The Vietnamese
Ambassador hailed the remarkable contributions of foreign investors,
including those from the EU member countries, to
The Government of Vietnam
is committed to boosting economic reform, ensuring politic stability, and
creating a social consensus on economic policies.
Thanh described the
EU as one of the most important trade partners and investors of
He also mentioned
some key agreements and incentives provided by the EU, such as the most
favoured nation (MFN) treatment and the Generalised System of Preferences
(GSP), aimed at creating favourable conditions for developing countries to
enter the EU market.
Notably, in October
2012, the EU launched reformed GSP programme, providing more preferential
tariffs for several Vietnamese key exports, including footwear.
According to the
General Statistics Office (GSO),
In an attempt to
lift bilateral ties to a higher level, the two sides officially signed the
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in September 2012 after five-year
negotiations. They are also conducting official negotiations for the early
signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) by the end of 2014.
Ambassador Thanh
proposed Vietnam expand bilateral trade negotiations, scrutinize overall
plans on the industrial sector, and priotize developing information and
technology (IT) and support industries. The country should also support
businesses in market research and loan access to increase added value and
develop high-quality human resource.
Entitled “Why trade
matters to everyone”, the WTO Public Forum 2014 had 68 sessions with the
participation of many leading economists, senior officials, and
representatives from non-governmental organizations and other international
organisations.
WTO Director
General Roberto Azevedo affirmed trade has made huge contributions to global
economic growth. Trade-related issues, bad or good, involve all people and
affect the quality of day-to-day lives of citizens around the globe.
ASEAN-made
car imports to
Members of the
Vietnam Automobile Manufacturer Association (VAMA) have enjoyed steady sales
growth in the 17-month period ending in August, but this is not good news for
local car assemblers.
Sales of
domestically assembled cars in the 17 months only rose 27%, while imported
cars posted a 66% growth in the same period, according to the VAMA.
Such a huge
disparity was also recorded in separate months, the association added.
In July, the growth
of imported cars was 62%, compared to 24% for those assembled in
Cars manufactured
in ASEAN countries account for a considerable amount of the vehicles sold by
VAMA businesses, as they are subject to a 50% import duty, instead of the
usual 60%.
ASEAN is a
ten-member bloc which includes such Southeast Asian countries as
Ford
The VAMA businesses
only sell made-in-Thailand pick-up trucks, as the vehicles are only subject
to a 5% import duty.
Steel corp
signs agreement with Austrian partners
Vietnam Steel
Corporation (VNSTEEL) has entered into a long-term comprehensive cooperation
agreement with Austrian partner – RHI Refractories Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Pursuant to the
agreement, RHI will supply advanced fireproof material and technological
solutions for VNSTEEL’s steel plants with preferential prices and after-sales
services.
The agreement aims
to help VNSTEEL produce steel stably and effectively through reducing
expenses, raising productivity, and improving the quality of products.
For its part,
VNSTEEL agrees to use RHI fireproof material and technological solutions and
encourage its members to utilise them.
VNSTEEL Director
General Nghiem Xuan Da said the agreement helps promote cooperation between
RHI and VNSTEEL via expanding the application of advanced material and
technological solutions to stabilize production.
VNSTEEL and RHI
have cooperated with each other for 10 years. Since 2004, RHI has supplied
advanced fireproof materials for VNSTEEL plants, such as Vicasa and Thu Duc.
In 2005, it provided all fireproof materials for Phu My Steel Plant (now
Southern Steel Corporation – SSC), which has so far produced more than 3.418
million tonnes of steel ingots.
RHI Refractories
According to a
report named Global Beer Production by Country in 2013, conducted by Japanese
firm Kirin Brewery, in 2003
The report
indicated that
The other countries
in the top 10 biggest beer producers in 2013 include the
In
Vietnamese people
spend around USD3 billion on beer annually, the most in Southeast Asia, and
third in Asia, just behind
Over the past 10
years, beer consumption in
According to Nguyen
Huy Quang, head of legal department of the Ministry of Health, an estimated
90% of Vietnamese men drink alcohol.
Can Tho wants to
strengthen agricultural cooperation with
During the meeting,
the two sides shared experience in rice production, ornamental plant
cultivation, and agricultural processing and preservation of agricultural and
dairy products.
Ambassador Manning
said although
The country’s key
exports include agricultural products, functional food, Manuca honey and
milk.
For his part, Dung
pledged to support
He urged the
ambassador to introduce to Can Tho a
Local
businesses seek way to win on home turf
Participants at an
October 3 seminar on retails and investment policies raised their concern
over the domination of foreign retailers who, thanks to their advantages in
capital and technology, may defeat local ones.
Dr. Dinh Thi My
Loan, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Retailers Association, said the modern retail
sector is experiencing fierce competition between local businesses and
foreign rivals. At present, no foreign retailers care about rural areas and
traditional markets as these marketplaces are unlikely to generate huge
benefit.
Loan denied recent
rumours that the local retail market is being cornered, affirming that
domestic businesses are sharpening their competitive edge and proving
effective operation.
She revealed that
modern retail distribution accounted for only 25% of total market share,
while traditional retail market is developing well.
According to the
Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s statistics, by the end of 2013,
Regarding the
development trend of modern retail channel, Pham Dinh Doan, Chairman of Phu
Thai Group, analyzed that the coming signing of free trade agreement (FTA)
and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement will have more open market
commitments and offer more opportunities for local retailers.
Apart from building
technical barriers following WTO rules, Doan suggested that local firms should
enter joint ventures with foreign partners and promote experience sharing in
management and trademark development.
Nguyen Anh Duc,
Director of Saigon Co.op supermarket chain, stressed that after opening up
market in line with international commitments, consumers have been provided
with multi choices. Foreign investment has helped lifted
Local retailers
should strengthen linkage, boost technology transfer and increase
competitiveness to hold a firm foothold on their home market, Duc
recommended.
Tran Nguyen
Dr. Loan, once
again, affirmed that it is unnecessary to provide subsidy as local firms have
become stronger. The core matter is how to ensure transparency in foreign
attraction policies, she noted.
Vietnam-Brazil
trade turnover exceeds US$2 billion
The trade turnover
between
Of this figure,
Among Vietnam’s
export commodities to Brazil which saw high growth rate included fibres (up
104%), telephone and components (up 132%), bags, suitcases, hats, and
umbrellas (up 36.4%), garment and textile (up 36.3%), vehicles (up 29.6%),
and aqua products (up 20.9%).
Meanwhile,
equipment and spare parts, computer and other electronic products also
experienced a sharp decrease compared to a year earlier.
Two-way trade
turnover between the two countries is expected to exceed US$3 billion in
2014.
Local firms
in need of support
The State should
formulate and implement policies that will solve domestic enterprises'current
difficulties in production and business to enable them to develop next year,
experts said.
The recommendation
was made at a seminar on The Development of Viet Nam's Enterprises and The
Socio-Economic Development Plan in 2015, held in
At the seminar, the
experts noted that the national economic situation and the production and
business of domestic enterprises had shown more improvement so far this year
compared with previous years. But they urged the Government and the National
Assembly to provide more support for a number of sectors to ensure the
enterprises' development in the future.
The Hai quan online
newspaper quoted Nguyen Ngoc Bao, member of the National Assembly's Economic
Committee, as saying the nation has achieved its economic targets though
difficulties in developing the economy remain, including macro-economic
stability and control over inflation.
Meanwhile, numerous
difficulties have hounded domestic enterprises, noted Bao. He cited figures
from the Ministry of Planning and Investment showing that 44,509 enterprises
have either suspended or shut down operations in the first eight months of
this year, and this represented a 12.9-per cent year-on-year increase.
Figures from the
ministry also showed
Bao urged the State
to craft policies that would solve these difficulties and enable domestic
enterprises to take advantage of numerous free trade agreements between
The National
Assembly should also promote the setting up of legal systems for State and
economic management to create a favourable business environment for
attracting investment for production and business, Bao said. These should
include laws on the management and use of state capital and assets of
enterprises and on trading real estate, as well as amended laws on
enterprise, investment and housing.
The chinhphu.vn
quoted Pham Thi Thu Hang, VCCI general secretary as saying that domestic
enterprises were facing a reduction in scale, with medium and large
enterprises on the decline.
The nation lacked
leading, large and medium enterprises that make use of new technology and new
foreign markets to become partners of multinational companies and join the
global value chain, Hang said. The State should also support SMEs to develop
into medium- and large enterprises.
The VCCI has also
proposed that the National Assembly draft a law on small and medium
enterprises to create favourable conditions for the sustainable development
of SMEs and their future conversion into medium and large enterprises.
The State should
also craft policies that reduce the cost of entering the market for SMEs and
provide reasonable financial products for them, Hang said.
Doan Thi Quyen of
the VCCI Enterprise Development Research Institute said domestic enterprises
should undergo a thorough restructuring to improve their ability in
production and business, and should have medium- and long term-development
strategies, control the cost of production and business and improve their
abilities in risk and corporate management.
Firms lose
stock market listing fears
A number of public
companies have recently come to
Last September, the
Ha Noi Stock Exchange welcomed four new enterprises: the multi-industry CEO
Group (CEO), Tri Viet Management Investment (TVC), Nam Dinh Foodstuff and
Agricultural Products Export (NDF) and Petrolimex Installation No3 (PEN).
Thong Nhat
Production and Investment (GTN) also debuted on the HCM City Stock Exchange
yesterday, with the prices of its shares jumping by 20 per cent.
"Listing our
shares helps our operations become transparent and assists us in raising
capital and developing relations with other companies," Pham Thanh Tung,
Tri Viet chairman, told the Dau tu chung khoan (Securities Investment)
publication.
Following the
listing of its shares, Tri Viet will improve its services for its clients,
which are public companies, he said.
According to other
company directors, this is the right time to offer shares to the public, as
the stock market is reviving while bank funding remains hard to get.
Apart from fund
raising, the increase in share value also encourages them. Companies that
have listed recently recorded impressive growth, such as CEO, whose share
prices increased by around 50 per cent in just four sessions. Notably, NDF
shares soared by more than 100 per cent since its first trading day last
September 12.
A hoard of
companies are expected to list in the fourth quarter, including mineral
companies Bac A, Gia Lai and Visaco, electric cable companies Viet Thai and
Cadivi, as well as Thien Viet Securities, Southern Fertiliser, Quang Binh
Import and Export and Van Dien Fused Magnesium Phosphate.
Meanwhile, some
investors have expressed doubts that manipulation was behind the recent price
increases.
The Ha Noi Stock
Exchange expects listed companies to take the initiative to make themselves
transparent. Transparency has for long been seen as the primary element to
enhance corporate value and protect investors.
The stock exchange
said in a conference yesterday that more transparency meant less
manipulation. "A higher degree of publicity makes manipulators cringe,
as the market response could be extremely harsh," a stock market
official said.
Binh Duong
attracts $1.4b in FDI during first nine months
This southern
province lured 212 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth more than
US$1.4 billion in the first nine months of 2014, according to the local
planning and investment department.
Department
officials said the amount of capital represented a 26 per cent year-on-year
increase and was 40 per cent higher than the quota the province had set for
2014.
Binh Duong now
ranks third nationwide in attracting FDI in the first nine months, after the
Foreign
firms receive investment licences in Long An
Long An Province
granted investment certificates to 74 foreign-invested companies with total
registered capital of US$427.5 million in the first nine months of the year,
according to provincial authorities.
This was 1.5 times
the amount of capital spent in the same period last year, as well as a 94 per
cent increase in the number of projects.
Vietnam Airlines is
offering a 10 per cent discount on domestic and international fares for
passengers who book tickets online from October 8-10 to mark the sixth
anniversary of its website.
The first 300
customers who buy tickets with Vietcombank cards will get VND1 million cash
back for payments of more than VND5 million (US$235). Those using HSBC
Vietnam cards will get reward points.
Members of the
carrier's Golden Lotus programme booking tickets in October for departures in
November or December will receive 50 per cent bonus miles.
Cashew nut
prices expected to rise in 2015
The Vietnam Cashew
Association (Vinacas) predicted that the price of raw cashews would rise in
2015 due to growing demand, both for export and processing purposes.
Vinacas urged
domestic cashew businesses to establish a brand reputation by ensuring quality
control and sticking to delivery schedules, while telling producers to
improve nut quality by applying sound cultivation techniques.
During the first
eight months of 2014, the export volume of processed cashews reached 198,743
tonnes worth US$1.29 billion. This represented an increase of 20.2 per cent
in volume and 21.5 percent in value compared to the same period last year.
New payment
service launched
Sai Gon-Thuong Tin
Commercial Bank (Sacombank) and MPOS Vietnam Technology Joint Stock Company
(mPOS.vn) say the newly introduced mobile points of sale (MPOS) service can
match various devices such as smartphones and tablets connected to the
Internet and 3G services at fees much lower than normal points of sale (POS).
In addition, the
service does not require a minimum revenue level for users. For traditional
POS, users typically have to ensure minimum transaction revenues a month,
making them suitable only for medium and high-revenue businesses.
MasterCard, which
introduced the MPOS service, has also announced a co-operation programme with
mPOS.vn and Sacombank to develop a strong mPOS.vn card payment network. They
will also provide payment training to customers .
Outstanding loans
in Vietnamese dong accounted for 83 per cent or VND839 trillion ($39.39
billion) of the total number of loans, while foreign currencies made up the
remaining 17 per cent or $8 billion. Short-term loans made up 51 per cent of
the portfolio.
Loans in priority
sectors, including rural and agricultural development, exports, small and
medium enterprises, auxiliary industries and high-technology applied
enterprises, totalled VND136.24 trillion ($6.4 billion), a 7.9-per cent
increase over that of the end of 2013.
The city's total
deposits increased by 4.71 per cent in the first nine months to reach
VND1,226 trillion ($57.55 billion). Of these, deposits in dong made up 84.7
per cent.
By end-July, the
city's bad debt was estimated to be worth VND59 trillion ($2.76 billion),
making up 5.93 per cent of total outstanding loans, or a 1.24-per cent
increase over that of last December.
Nguyen Van Binh,
the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) governor, told the National Assembly
Standing Committee last week that bad debts nationwide amounted to eight per
cent of total outstanding loans as of late July. Binh said he would bring
down the ratio to six per cent by year-end.
The country's
credit growth from January to September 2014 reached 7 per cent while the
annual target is set at 12 to 14 per cent.
Apartment
sales in city edge up in Q3
Around 3,300
apartments were sold in HCMC in the third quarter of this year, rising 8.6%
against the previous quarter and 94.88% over a year ago, CBRE Vietnam said.
Previously, the
company reported nearly 6,000 apartments found buyers in the city in the
first and second quarter.
According to its
latest market research report, apartment sales in the city increased as home
buyers have regained confidence, helping investors sell their products.
With the better
market situation, the primary and secondary markets saw apartment prices in
the third quarter edging up 1-4% over the previous quarter and 1.2-5.4%
compared to the same period last year.
In the third
quarter, sales events attracted many visitors although the number of
apartments on sale fell 8.8% over the second quarter.
Apartment projects
for sale in July-September included the 8X Plus project of Hung Thinh
Corporation with 600 apartments in District 12, over 200 apartments of the
War for
talent seen more intense after establishment of AEC
Training and
retaining talent is considered a important task at most enterprises; however,
it will be more challenging to keep talent after the establishment of the
ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, said experts at a conference here on
Tuesday.
The “War for
Talent” workshop co-organized by Leading Business Club and Boston Consulting
Group (BCG) in HCMC urged enterprises to attend more to retaining talent when
the country integrates itself deeper into the regional economy.
Many small and
medium enterprises in
He added that those
firms will join the race to hunt for senior staff at Vietnamese enterprises
active in the same sectors, making the “war for talent” harsher.
To survive such
competition, domestic companies must put the human resources (HR) issue on
top of their development strategies, said Pham Ngoc Phu Trai, chairman of LBC
at the workshop.
After each business
period, Vietnamese enterprises should review the number of senior employees
and their productivity besides concentrating on revenue or profit figures, he
stressed.
To map out a
strategy for labor issue, Bernd Waltermann, CEO of BCG in
The first is
planning and orienting the strategy, followed by creating a recruitment team,
drafting a management trainee program, categorizing employees, working out a
talent development program, and maintaining a high quality recruitment team.
NFSC:
Economy recovers positively
A recent report of
the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC) showed positive
improvements in the country’s economy in the January-September period.
In a report serving
the government meeting in September, NFSC said the local economy maintained
recovery momentum and gained faster growth, especially in the third quarter
of 2014. The gross domestic product (GDP) had grown steadily since the first
quarter.
In the
July-September period, GDP expanded by 6.15% compared to 5.25% in the
previous quarter, and this positive quarter-on-quarter growth will back the
Government’s efforts to realize a growth rate target of 5.8% this year.
Between January and
September, the industrial production index increased by 6.4% year-on-year.
Both exports and
imports improved, advancing by 13.2% and 12.1% year-on-year respectively,
with trade surplus hitting nearly US$1 billion. Import value of machines and
components surged by 33%, metal by 40%, cloth by 82%, plastics by 31% and
apparel and footwear by 30%.
Besides,
consumption also increased with total retail and consumption service revenues
(excluding price factor) up 6.2% over 5.2% in the same period of 2013.
Inflation was still
under control, rising only 3.12% year-on-year. The figure is projected at
around 3-4% this year.
Low inflation
facilitated interest rate cuts. Mobilization rates for the six-month tenor
dropped from 7.2% early this year to around 6.1% on September 20.
The banking system
continued to have strong liquidity, which was a supportive factor for
government bond issue.
Meanwhile, the
balance of payments reached a record surplus of US$10.15 billion in the first
six months, helping spur foreign exchange reserves and stabilize the exchange
rate.
The State budget’s
overspending was VND124.5 trillion in the nine months, down 4.7%
year-on-year.
The commission,
however, pointed out some shortcomings. Aggregate demand improved but was not
strong enough to support the economy.
Personal spending
remained low while the increase of total retail and consumption service
revenue was still much lower than 10% in 2010 and 2011.
The ratio of total
social investment/GDP was 30.2% in the first six months, higher than this
year’s plan at 29.4% but private investments were only 10.3% of GDP, lower
than 11.1% in the same period last year.
In
January-September, over 48,300 enterprises were dissolved or halted
operations, up 13.8% year-on-year.
Source:
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Hai, 6 tháng 10, 2014
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