Market's best perfomers lose steam due to difficulties

A series of best-performing stocks on the Vietnamese stock market are losing their steam due to poor business performances. (Source: VNA)

Tien Giang province-headquartered Hung Vuong Corporation (HVG), leading exporter of tra and basa catfish, saw its shares plummet to an all-time low of 2,520 VND per share on August 20 after the company announced a loss of 129 billion VND (5.5 million USD) in after-tax profit in the third quarter of this year.

The firm continues to suffer heavy losses due to a series of simultaneous problems such as rising interest expenses and feed costs.

HVG did recover strongly after the US Department of Commerce officially imposed zero percent tariffs on Vietnamese shrimp exporters last week. In just three trading days, HVG soared by 15 percent to 2,910 per share.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co Ltd (BSR), the operator of the 3 billion USD Dung Quat Oil Refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai and the first oil refinery in the country, is also facing the same situation.

Last year, BSR recorded an all-time peak of 20,900 VND per share on September 27. However, due to the fluctuation of oil price which harmed all oil refineries in the world, including traders and distributors, BSR dropped sharply, hitting its lowest level on August 26 of 9,300 VND per share, down 125 percent since September 27, 2018.

BSR’s business was also strongly affected by oil prices since October last year. Its gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2018 witnessed a loss of 812 billion VND, which made the company’s after-tax profit fall 1 trillion VND.

BSR targets to earn 2.9 trillion VND in post-tax profit in 2019, down by 18 percent against 2018.

In early 2018, BSR reported a successful initial public offering (IPO) with a complete take-up of the offered shares.

The sale, organised on the HCM Stock Exchange, is Vietnam’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) last year. The company offered 242 million shares, equalling 7.79 percent of its charter capital at the initial price of 14,600 VND (0.64 USD) apiece.

The average selling price was 23,043 VND (1.01 USD), 57.8 percent higher than the initial price.

After the IPO, BSR earned 5.57 trillion VND (245.26 million USD) in proceeds, 1.5 times higher than its expectations.

The IPO reported a record in the number of investors registering to join the auction with over 4,000 investors, as well as in the registered shares as over 651.78 million shares were registered to be bought, 2.7 times higher than the offered volume.

Hoang Quan Consulting Trading Service Real Estate Corp (HQC) saw its price fall continuously since in the last five years by 360 percent.

HQC hit 2015-peak of 6,200 VND per share in October 2015, then ceaselessly fell and searched for new bottoms over the next four years. HQC fell to all-time low of 1,350 VND on August 26.

The Bank for Investment Development of Vietnam's Securities Company (BSI), once a leading securities company in Vietnam, now is seeing stock price standing at the lowest level in three years, hovering around 7,000 VND per share.

Baoviet Securities Company (BVS) also has fallen deeply compared to last year, down by 82 percent since early 2018.

BVS did achieve good business results in the second quarter compared to 2018, with post-tax profit up by 13 percent against Q1. However, BVS still seems to be slow down in the race to maintain its position on the stock market.

VNA