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VIETNAM
BUSINESS REVIEW Vol 37, September 21st 2016
Suspension of MTM shares shock investors, giving UPCoM a bad name
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
SEIKO IDEAS CORPORATION
Vietnam Business Review
HIGHLIGHTS
Suspension of MTM shares shock investors, giving UPCoM a bad name
Mobile apps lead IT trend in Vietnam
BANKS & FINANCE
Central bank refuses cheap loans for builders
Banking investment, no longer one-way flow
INVESTMENT
Investors compete to acquire "golden land in Saigon's central area
Investment in 4G pave way for 5G in future
HCMC - magnet to attract investment from RoK conglomerate
ENTERPRISES
Japan's low-cost airline launches service to Vietnam Pouring money
into agriculture: a gamble for Vietnamese tycoons
Daiwa House eyes Southeast Asia for extended-stay lodging
Japan's Dentsu opens media labs in Indonesia, Vietnam
MARKET & PRICES
Medicine prices on the rise in Vietnam
Foreign sector scooping up Vietnam FMCG market
LEGAL UPDATES
Vietnam tariffs for ASEAN imports go into effect
Guidance on bidding documents for engineering-procurement of
goods construction (EPC)
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Central bank refuses cheap
loans for builders
VNS - The deadline for social housing
developers who signed borrowing
contracts before March 31, 2016 to
get cheap loans from the VND30
trillion stimulus package will not be
extended to December 31 this year
as they wished. However, capital
disbursement for low-income buyers
still continues.
Earlier, the HCM City Real Estate
Association submitted a proposal to
the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV),
asking the central bank to allow
social housing developers to
continue getting loans at preferential
interest rates from the VND30 trillion
(US$1.34 billion) package until the
end of the year.
In response, SBV confirmed that after
asking for opinions from the Ministry
of Construction, the Ministry of
Finance, as well as balancing the
interests of the Government and
people, the loans would not be
disbursed because the real estate
business has certain profits while
already enjoying preferential policies
of taxes and land rental when
building social housing. The
disbursement extension for home
buyers means indirect support for
businesses.
In addition, the Government has
prioritised low interest loans to
improve living conditions for the
needy rather than for housing
developers.
The disbursement progress to
developers was slow due to
construction delays, the central
bank said, adding if the proposal is
approved, it would create a bad
precedent and property companies
would be more reliant on
Government support.
The SBV will only allow the capital
disbursement to be continued for
individual borrowers of social
housing projects till the end of this
year.
The interest rate for the loans this
year was set at 5%, 1% lower than
last year.
HCM to build projects
The municipal Department of
Construction says about 39 social
housing projects with 43,700
apartments are under construction.
The department has also reviewed
the area of 94 commercial housing
projects in a plan to use a part of
them for around 157,000 apartments
for low-income earners.
It said developing projects for low-
income earners has been one of most
important solutions to resolve the
unlicensed houses in the city. Since
the effectiveness of the Law on
Housing 2006, the city has approved
the construction of 51 social housing
projects with more than 46,500
apartments; 12 projects were
completed, providing 3,886
apartments.
In addition, real estate firms also
completed 35 projects for workers
with 5,500 apartments housing 40,000
workers.
Tran Trong Tuan, the department’s
director, predicts the demand for low-
cost housing in the city over the next
five years would be huge.
Banking investment, no longer
one-way flow
VNS - Recently the State Bank of Viet
Nam (SBV) issued a licence to
Malasyia’s second largest lender,
CIMB Bank Berhad, to establish a
bank in Viet Nam with a registered
capital of over VND3.2 trillion (nearly
$144m).
Earlier, the central bank had also
licensed the first Malaysian-owned
lender, Public Bank Berhad, in March
and South Korea’s biggest lender in
terms of consolidated assets, Woori, to
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establish fully-owned banks in the
country in August.
They take the number of fully foreign-
owned banks to eight, the others
being ANZ Viet Nam, Hong Leong
Viet Nam, HSBC Viet Nam, Shinhan
Viet Nam and Standard Chartered
Viet Nam.
To enter the highly attractive
Vietnamese financial market, many
foreign investors have also started to
buy stakes in domestic banks,
particularly State-owned.
Vietcombank, ACB, Sacombank,
OCB and SeABank all have foreign
strategic shareholders.
On August 29 Vietcombank,Viet
Nam’s biggest commercial bank,
signed a memorandum of
understanding to sell a 7.73 per cent
stake, equalling 305.8 million shares,
to GIC Pte Ltd of Singapore.
Earlier the bank had sold a 15% stake
to Japan’s Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Also in August the International
Finance Corporation, an arm of the
World Bank, became a shareholder
of Tien Phong Commercial Joint
Stock Bank (TPBank) after acquiring a
4.999% stake for VND403.1 billion
($18.3m).
Foreign investors see high growth
potential in emerging markets like
Viet Nam, estimating it at to be two
to two-and-a-half times higher than
their GDP growth rate.
The Vietnamese banking market is
expected to grow by around 15%
over the next 10 years. Demand for
financial and banking services,
especially credit cards, will rise in this
new emerging market.
Realising these trends, Vietnamese
credit institutions themselves have
spared no efforts to drastically
restructure their operations and
strengthen their financial,
administrative and human resource
capabilities.
According to a survey by the central
bank’s Monetary Statistics and
Forecasting Department in July,
many commercial banks were
upbeat that credit growth would
touch at levels that close to the
quotas they had been given by the
SBV for the entire year. The SBV had
set a goal of 18-20%.
They expected lending interest rates
to decline slightly and bad debts to
be settled significantly by year-end.
Banks are expected to rebound
following the restructuring process,
making the time right for foreign
investors to enter the market.
Meanwhile, many domestic lenders
have sought ways to expand into
other countries in the region.
Earlier this month the Sai Gon-Ha Noi
Joint Stock Commercial Bank
(SHB) opened a wholly-owned
subsidiary in the Cambodian capital
Phnom Penh.
SHB Cambodia Bank has a charter
capital of $50 million and is the
second subsidiary of SHB in Indochina
after the first in Laos.
In July BIDV received a licence to
open a branch in Myanmar. The
Yangon branch, which has a capital
of $85 million, is the outcome of the
Việ t Nam-Myanmar Joint Statement
on co-operation in 12 priority areas
including finance and banking.
Viet Nam has 10 banks operating in
Laos and Cambodia, with the others
including Sacombank, Agribank and
MB.
Vietnamese banks also have a
presence in many other countries.
BIDV has a representative office in
Russia, Vietcombank has a
representative office in Singapore
and a subsidiary in Hong Kong.
VietinBank has branches in Germany,
France, Singapore and Myanmar.
A spokesperson for the Department of
Licence for Credit Institutions said
expanding their operations abroad is
one of several ways that banks are
deploying to improve their
competitiveness.
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Investors compete to acquire
"golden land in Saigon's central
area
VNN - Toshin Development of Japan
and the Van Thinh Phat group of
well-known tycoon Truong My Lan
both want to become investors of
an underground commercial center
project in the prime real estate area
in HCM City's downtown.
The HCMC People’s Committee is
awaiting the Prime Minister’s
approval for its proposal on
appointing a group of companies,
including Toshin Development, Join,
Nikken Sekkei and Osaka Chikagai.
Toshin would be the investor to
implement a component project of
the Ben Thanh commercial center.
It is also seeking the government’s
permission to use ODA capital to
build several project items, including
walkways, a square and
underground public works.
The Ben Thanh commercial center is
to be located underneath the
Quach Thi Trang Square and along
Le Loi Road, from Ben Thanh market
to the City Theatre.
The center is expected to cover an
area of 45,000 square meters.
JICA (the Japan International
Cooperation Agency) estimates
that the project needs investment
capital of VND6.865 trillion.
Meanwhile, HCMC authorities
reported to the Prime Minister in
May 2016 that the total investment
capital estimated by Toshin may
reach VND8.392 trillion.
In a document to the Prime Minister
in late May 2016, the city authorities
said that two groups of investors
wanted the component project.
Besides Toshin, the city also
received a proposal from Sai Gon
Star, an infrastructure & real estate
development firm, with consultancy
from Japanese Nihon Sekkei.
Sources said that the group of
investors represented by Toshin has
great advantages to win the
project. Toshin promised to help
HCMC authorities work with the
Japanese government on the
arrangement of ODA capital for
the public works of the project.
The other great advantage of
Toshin is that it once worked with
Keppel Land Sowatco on the
Takashimaya shopping center at
Saigon Center 2. The position on Le
Loi Road will help connect
Takashimaya with the Ben Thanh
underground center.
As for Sai Gon Star, analysts said
that it is the biggest shareholder of
New Life, a big real estate
company.
In the first quarter of 2016, New Life
bought Duxton Hotel Saigon from
Low Keng Huat at $49.24 million.
The new owners of Duxton Hotel
Saigon have close relations with Van
Thinh Phat Group owned by Truong
My Lan, the tycoon who owns many
‘golden land plots’ on Nguyen Hue
Road, including Times Square, Union
Square and Van Thinh Phat Office
Building.
In May 2016, Van Thinh Phat asked
the city authorities to allow it to
conduct a survey and feasibility
study for a park project at the Bach
Dang Tourism Port.
Investment in 4G pave way for
5G in future
VNN - After a trial run, Vietnamese
network operators are ready for 4G,
a necessary step for Vietnam to
advance toward 5G and prepare for
the Internet of Things (IoT).
In July 2016, MobiFone, one of the
three largest network operators,
officially launched the north-south
backbone transmission line. It is
equipped with modern technology,
with the speed of up to 300 Gbps
and a high security level.
This was considered the best step for
4G deployment. The master of the
backbone transmission network
allows MobiFone to provide
broadband services on a high-speed
mobile platform to 25 cities and
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provinces.
Anthony McLachland, CEO of
Ciena Asia Pacific, said that with
the network, MobiFone can provide
services flexibly to orders when the
bandwidth demand increases in
Vietnam, for all data, voice, video
and cable TV services.
MobiFone’s president Le Nam Tra
said MobiFone sets up a network to
take initiative in building and
developing new services.
With heavy investment, MobiFone
shows its strong will in competition
with other network operators,
though MobiFone was the last
network operator which ran 4G on a
trial basis.
Viettel and VinaPhone were more
light-footed than MobiFone as they
tried 4G in early 2016.
As for the results of the trial run, a
representative of MobiFone said it
was satisfactory, with transmission
speed of up to 225 Mbps/75Mbps.
The other two large network
operators reported the same results.
“The frequency band for 4G has
been programmed, mobile network
operators have finished their trial
run, and equipment is available. This
means that everything for 4G is
ready,” said Thieu Phuong Nam,
CEO of Qualcomm Vietnam, Laos
and Cambodia, adding that 4G just
needs the state’s approval to be
launched.
Stepping stone to 5G
4G technology allows high data
transmission and loading capability,
which can be 10-20 times higher
than 3G.
However, while 4G has not been
launched in Vietnam, wireless
technology worldwide has been
preparing for 5G.
Questions have been raised about
why Vietnam does not go directly
to 5G, and if Vietnam is wasting
money to deploy 4G while the
world is marching towards 5G.
Nam of Qualcomm said that like
3G, 4G is a necessary step to be
taken to march towards 5G. “We
cannot miss the step,” Nam said.
Unlike old technologies used to
connect people, 5G allows people
to connect everything, and 4G is
the basis. As such, the investment in
4G infrastructure is not wasteful.
Also according to Nam, 4G can
bring opportunities to the entire
mobile ecosystem, from network
operators to app developers to
digital content service providers.
HCMC - magnet to attract
investment from RoK
conglomerate
A dynamic investment climate has
made the southern city of Ho Chi
Minh a magnet to conglomerates
from the Republic of Korea (RoK) like
Samsung, Lotte and CJ.
Many big RoK businesses have made
commitments to pour more
investment into the city during a visit
this month to the RoK by a
Vietnamese delegation led by
Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City
People’s Committee Dinh La Thang,
the Sai gon Giai phong newspaper
reported.
The newspaper quoted Vice
Chairman of the municipal People’s
Committee Le Van Khoa, the RoK is
at present the city’s fourth foreign
biggest investor with 1,252 projects
with total investment of US$4.3 billion.
Bilateral trade in the first eight
months of this year was more than
US$2.6 billion. The city also
welcomed about 240,000 tourists
from the northeast Asian country.
During meetings with the
Vietnamese delegation, Hyosung’s
Vice President Yoo Sun Hyung
revealed that the group plans to
pour US$1.12 billion into Vietnam
from 2016-2020.
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Japan's low-cost airline
launches service to Vietnam
VIR - Japanese airline Vanilla Air has
launched its service between
HCMC and Tokyo, becoming the
first Japanese budget airline to fly to
Vietnam. Vanilla Air flights will have
stopovers at Taoyuan International
Airport in Taiwan’s Taipei.
Mio Yamamuro, Vanilla Air deputy
general director, said at a press
conference in HCMC last week that
Vietnam is the airline’s first foreign
destination in Southeast Asia.
She said the number of flyers
between Vietnam and Japan
soared 49% year-on-year last year
and amounted to over 141,000 in
the first seven months of this year.
Yamamuro said demand for air
travel between HCMC and Taiwan
has surged as the territory has
relaxed visa regulations for
Vietnamese citizens.
Established in 2011, Vanilla Air is a
unit of ANA Holdings Group, which
owns All Nippon Airways. It has nine
Airbus A320s.
Pouring money into
agriculture: a gamble for
Vietnamese tycoons
VNN - Though they followed
methodical production methods,
many Vietnamese tycoons, who
have succeeded in their core
business fields, have harvested
bitter fruit in the agricultural
industry.
In 2015, Vingroup, Hoang Anh Gia
Lai and Hoa Phat Groups, the three
richest Vietnamese stock
millionaires, surprised the public
when announcing plans to pour
money into agricultural production.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s owner
decided to develop cow farms,
while Hoa Phat’s owner makes
animal feed and Vingroup is
growing clean vegetables.
Other large conglomerates,
including TH, Vinamilk (dairy
producers) and T&T Group also
have injected money into
agriculture projects. Local
newspapers commented that a
new wave of investment in
agriculture had started.
However, the movement seems to
be fading. This is attributed to the
huge debt of VND3 trillion incurred
by Hoang Anh Gia Lai, which
decided to give up real estate
projects to focus on agriculture.
The group’s H1 finance report
showed that its payable accounts
had reached VND32.995 trillion,
which included VND26.683 trillion in
loans. HAGL is not alone. Nguyen
Kim, a home appliance distribution
chain, after pouring money into food
companies in Mekong Delta, has
seen unsatisfactory business results.
Duc Long Gia Lai, another powerful
conglomerate, stated that once the
maize growing project brings high
profit, it would join forces with
Vinamilk to develop a project on
breeding 80,000 milk cows and
45,000 meat cows. However, the
project has remained on paper over
the last two years.
Only Vingroup still works with with
farmers in many projects. On
September 1, Vingroup kicked off a
program on supporting agriculture
production under which it would
invest VND300 billion a year to
support 1,000 cooperatives and
households to grow clean
vegetables, distribute products and
develop brands.
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Daiwa House eyes Southeast
Asia for extended-stay lodging
Nikkei - Japan's Daiwa House
Industry will open lodging facilities
with hotel-like amenities in Vietnam
and other Southeast Asian nations in
response to the growing number of
Japanese companies dispatching
workers there.
The company is discussing
construction plans for serviced-
apartment complexes with local
real estate developers in Vietnam,
the Philippines, Thailand and
Indonesia. It plans to select
locations, primarily in major
metropolitan areas, before year's
end.
The apartments will have kitchens
and come furnished, with hotel-like
services such as housekeeping
available for an additional fee. The
units will be targeted primarily at
renters staying for several weeks to
several months. While prices will be
higher than the lowest-priced local
hotels, Daiwa House aims to
achieve high occupancy rates on
the strength of the services
provided.
The Japanese homebuilder is
increasing the number of serviced
apartments it manages from
around 300 units at present to some
10,000 units by 2022. Much of that
growth will come in Southeast
Asia, with plans to open five or six
complexes annually.
Daiwa House's intent is to first
capture demand from Japanese
business travelers, the ranks of
which are increasing
accompanying Japanese
companies' advances into
Southeast Asia, and to also attract
business travelers from Europe and
the U.S.
Complexes with 200 to 300 units will
also have common spaces that
include large baths and Japanese
restaurants. The front desk will be
staffed around the clock, with the
locations to hire local employees
who have graduated from
Japanese-language schools.
The company is aiming for group
sales of 3.7 trillion yen ($36.1 billion)
in the year ending March 2019, a
16% increase from fiscal 2015.
Foreign sales are targeted in excess
of 200 billion yen as it focuses
on such operations as urban
development in the U.S. and
China's high-end residential market.
Japan's Dentsu opens media
labs in Indonesia, Vietnam
Nikkei - Advertising
agency Dentsu has established
cutting-edge media research
centers in Indonesia and Vietnam to
help clients make better use of big
data in their advertising.
The Dentsu Media Laboratory will
offer software for analyzing posts on
social networking sites and other
advanced technologies to uncover
developing trends in the Southeast
Asian markets. Findings at the labs
will be used in advertising, as well as
in creating new content and services
for clients.
Businesses in Indonesia and Vietnam
now have a wide array of
advertising options, thanks to
widespread use of smartphones. The
leading Japanese ad agency aims
to also pursue development of new
businesses with local startups.
The company's first such lab in the
region is already up and running in
Thailand.
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Medicine prices on the rise in
Vietnam
ANN - By the end of August, prices
for 51 imported medicines and 606
domestically produced products
were raised, accounting for 2.5 % of
the total 25,000 medicines on the
market.
Prices rose for more than 600
medicines, while 750 milk products
for children aged under six saw
price stabilisation in the first eight
months of 2015, officials said.
The Finance Ministry's Price
Management Department said the
information on maximum prices for
milk products was published on its
website as well as those of
provincial financial departments.
By the end of August, prices for 51
imported medicines and 606
domestically produced products
were raised, accounting for 2.5% of
the total 25,000 medicines on the
market.
The Ministry of Health said the prices
of some medicines were slightly
higher due to increases in the
volume of imported products and
materials for domestic production.
Last month, some 3-5% of imported
medicines saw price increases of
less than 10%.
The prices of imported materials,
which were mainly from China and
India, for local medicine production
posted a 10% increase over the
same period last year.
Medicine prices were expected to
change this month.
Foreign sector scooping up
Vietnam FMCG market
VOV - The foreign sector continues
to scoop up more of the market for
consumer goods like ice cream,
food, drinks, clothing, footwear,
toiletries and household supplies,
according to the Ministry of Industry
and Trade (MOIT).
At a recent business forum in Hanoi,
Phan Chi Dung of the MOIT told a
capacity audience that the growth
of the foreign sector in the market
for so called fast-moving consumer
goods (FMCG) has really put the
pressure on domestic brands.
Mr Dung, who is the general
director of the MOIT Light Industries
Department, said FMCG are
consumer goods that people use
every day and purchase frequently
that have a useful life of less than
one year.
More durable goods that have a
useful life of more than one year and
a slower sales frequency such as
household appliances, furniture and
home improvement products are
referred to as slow-moving consumer
goods (SMCG).
The competitive landscape for
FMCG is being shaped by large
transnational consumer packaged
goods (CPG) companies the likes of
US-based Procter & Gamble (P&G),
Unilever, L’Oréal and Nestlé.
These large companies, said Mr
Dung, have invested large amounts
of money into research and
development of their brands and
fine-tuned their products specifically
to meet with Vietnamese consumer
tastes and demand.
Many of these CPG companies are
manufacturing their products in
China and Thailand and shipping
them into Vietnam, which accounts
for increased exports in the latest
official figures from these two
countries.
In addition, brands from Japan and
the Republic of Korea have made
significant headway into the local
FMCG market as evidenced by the
proliferation of convenience stores in
the nation’s major cities.
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Vietnam tariffs for ASEAN
imports go into effect
VNS - Viet Nam’s new import tariff,
part of the ASEAN Trade in Goods
Agreement (ATIGA) for 2016-18, has
come into force.
Decree No 129/2016/NĐ-CP, which
was issued on September 1 and
took effect the same day, states
that the tariff is to be applied to
goods directly transported from
exporting countries into Viet Nam.
The exporters must be ATIGA
members, which include Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, and Thailand.
Special treatment is also given to
Việ t Nam, in case goods are
imported from non-tariff zones into
the domestic market.
Goods must also meet origin
regulations, as stated in the
agreement, and exporters are to
have certificates of origin, in a form
stipulated by the Ministry of Industry
and Trade.
ATIGA officially came into effect in
May 2010 after member countries
signed it in Thailand in Feb 2009.
The agreement aims at eliminating
tariffs to foster trade among
Southeast Asian nations, and
support joint efforts to handle non-
tariff barriers and promote co-
operation regarding customs inside
the bloc.
The Ministry of Finance said the
participating countries were
committed to following the
roadmap:
- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand
largely eliminated import taxes in
2010.
- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and
Viet Nam eliminated some 90 per
cent of their tariff lines in 2015, and
97 per cent in 2018.
Viet Nam already cut nearly 6,900
tariff lines, or 72% of all tariff lines, to
0% in 2014. It slashed more than
1,700 other lines to 0% in 2015, the
finance ministry said late last year.
Further, it said the country would
cut nearly 700 remaining tariff lines,
mainly "sensitive commodities", to
zero per cent by 2018. Among
these are automobiles and spare
parts, vegetable oil, refrigerators,
air-conditioners and dairy products.
The agreement is also set to help
countries harmonise policies as
members of the ASEAN Economic
Community, which was established
late last year.
Guidance on bidding
documents for engineering-
procurement of goods
construction (EPC)
Circular No. 11/2016/TT-BKHDT dated
July 26th, 2016 of the Ministry of
Planning and Investment on
guidance on bidding documents for
engineering-procurement of goods-
construction (EPC).
This Circular provides for guidance
on making bidding documents for
engineering (E), procurement of
goods (P) and construction (C) (EPC)
applicable to work packages of
projects which are prescribed in
Article 1 of the Law on bidding
No. 43/2013/QH13 are complicated,
require high technology and strictly
comply with the consistency from
the design to procurement of
equipment phase, construction,
training, technology transfers,
warranty, and long-term
maintenance
EPC is suitable for projects related to
mechanics, electricity, oil and gas,
chemistry, cement, mining, water
supply, sewage treatment and
waste treatment.
This Circular takes effect from
October 1st, 2016.
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Suspension of MTM shares
shock investors, giving UPCoM
a bad name
The announcement of suspension of
shares of Central Mining and
Mineral Import Export Joint Stock
Company (MTM) on June 20 by the
Hà Nộ i Stock Exchange has
shocked investors.
The Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX)
said it stopped trading in the entire
31 million MTM shares to protect the
interests of investors after the
approval of the State Securities
Commission. MTM was included in
the warning list with 38 other stocks
that were recently classified by the
bourse for a more transparent
market.
MTM, which is among the
blacklisted firms, recorded good
liquidity of millions of shares per day,
a very high figure for a stock on
Upcom, and had entered the
market this April. After trading was
stopped, each share of MTM was
worth VND2,600 each, 75 per cent
lower than its listed value in April.
Thus, the value of shares when
trading in them was halted was
worth VND80.6 billion.
On June 13, the State Securities
Commission (SSC) directed HNX to
verify and inspect the operations of
MTM. Four days later, HNX found
that the MTM headquarters in the
city of Vinh, Nghe An Province was
now a restaurant, while its branch in
Ha Noi was now a dental care unit.
After tracking the data from the
General of Tax Department, Viet
Nam News found that MTM
businesses had been shut down
and none of its registration numbers
were connected.
However, HNX director Nguyen Vu
Quang Trung told local media that
there was not enough evidence to
show that MTM was a fraudulent
firm.
"The HNX and SSC are still working
with the authorities to verify the
case," Trung said, and added that if
MTM only changed its addresses
without intimating the agencies
concerned, it would be fined under
the regulation.
He said that if MTM was a
fraudulent company, the issue
would go to the investigating
authorities in accordance with
legal regulations.
According to HNX, this was the first
such case since the establishment
of the unlisted market of UPCoM
2009. It was set up in the simplest
manner in the unofficial market for
unlisted stocks in Viet Nam to help
investors from being cheated and
stop them from investing in bad
cases. Currently, firms could be listed
as long as they were joint stock
companies with VNĐ10 billion in
charter capital. They were only
required to have the audited
financial statements and the
business registration for the listing.
While HNX director Trung still did not
know whether MTM was a fraudulent
firm or not, the confidence of many
local investors fell after the incident.
Nguyen Manh Hung, an investor in
Ha Noi said he never bought stocks
on the unlisted bourse as he knew
that basically trading on the unlisted
market was more risky than the listed
one.
Some others on the local stock forum
said that of the official markets
which including HoSE, HNX and
Upcom, Upcom was the least
transparent. Some investors said that
when such a case occurred there
was no mechanism to protect
investors.
As a solution to protect the investors
in the unlisted market, HNX has
divided the stocks in two sets - the
Premium and Warning lists from
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SEIKO IDEAS CORPORATION 12
Vietnam Business Review
tomorrow.
The Premium set with 86 stocks are
those that meet the criteria of the
financial report and the standard of
information disclosure in the stock
market. Under the specific
conditions for stocks on the Upcom
Premium set, companies with a
minimum charter capital of VND120
billion must have made a profit in
the previous year and accumulated
no losses, while companies with a
minimum charter capital of VND30
billion must have a return on equity
(ROE) of at least 5 per cent the
previous year and no accumulated
losses.
These criteria were considered
based on the companies' latest
audited financial statements. The
warning list with 39 stocks, which
failed to receive the mentioned
demand, would only be traded on
Friday.
Mobile apps lead IT trend in
Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam (Viet Nam
News/ANN) – Survey shows mobile
applications rank highest among IT
trends that draw the most attention
in Vietnam.
Mobile applications ranked highest
in a recent survey of information
and technology (IT) trends that
draw the most attention, chosen by
64 per cent of respondents.
The survey was conducted by
online employment recruiter
VietnamWorks.com ahead of the
Tech Insider Expo to be held this
month. The results were revealed
late in July.
VietnamWorks carried out the
survey to determine which IT trends
drew the most attention among
nearly 500 people working in the IT
field in Vietnam.
The result also matched global IT
trends, based on a survey by IT
research and advisory company
Gartner last year, which showed
that the most popular IT trends were
management activities through
mobile devices and mobile apps.
Another trend that interests people
working in the IT field is "big data,"
accounting for 55 per cent of
VietnamWorks' respondents.
Big data has become hotter in
recent years among enterprises with
huge data resources, according to
VietnamWorks.
Big data can result in greater
operational efficiency, cost
reduction and risk reduction.
The trend of business start-ups also
drew much attention, being voted
on by 46 per cent of the survey
respondents.
When asked about hi-tech trends, 61
per cent of respondents voted for
SmartHome technology.
The technology makes household
chores easier with smart electronic
home appliances that may also
conserve energy.
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For more information, please contact us:
SEIKO IDEAS - 10th Anniversary
Research & Consulting Division
Our services Market Research
Business Matching
Investment Consulting
Translation - Interpretation
Training (Language & Soft skills)
Our clients Thinktanks, Universities
Japanese & Vietnamese Government Organizations
Manufacturers, Retail companies
Advertisement agencies, Mass media, etc
Address Floor 5th – A Chau Building
No.24 Linh Lang Str., Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi, Vietnam
Telephone +84-4-6275-5246 ; +84-4-6273-6989
Fax +84-4-6273-6988
Email newsl [email protected]
URL www.seiko-ideas.com
PIC Nguyen Thi Quynh Tram (Ms.)
HP +84-91-4994-830
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