Retail News CRM

Tag: Vietnam

  • Bamboo Airways plans US IPO in Q3

    Bamboo Airways plans US IPO in Q3

    Private carrier Bamboo Airways is considering an initial public offering of shares in the U.S. this year to raise $200 million.

    The IPO is expected to take place in the third quarter, with the company likely to offer a 5-7 percent stake to secure a market capitalization of up to $4 billion, quoted its chairman, Trinh Van Quyet, as saying on Wednesday.

    It is preparing for the issuance together with an international auditing firm and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

    Last month, Quyet had announced the airlines’ plans to list 105 million shares on either the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange or Hanoi Stock Exchange at an initial price of VND60,000 ($2.61), but on Wednesday he said that has now become “a backup plan.”

    “The US IPO will be part of our efforts to expand our services globally.”

    It expected to operate charter flights to the U.S. from July this year and thrice-weekly commercial flights from HCMC to San Francisco from September.

    The airline has received a permit from the U.S. Department of Transportation to carry passengers and cargo to that country.

    This year it also plans to expand its fleet from 30 aircraft to 40, and launch flights to other new destinations like Australia, Germany, Japan, and the U.K. if the Covid-19 pandemic is under control.

    It currently flies on 60 domestic routes.

    Last year, it carried over seven million passengers to account for a 20 percent market share, and hopes to increase it to 30 percent this year.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Vietnam eyes $4 bln in shrimp exports

    Vietnam eyes $4 bln in shrimp exports

    Vietnam targets a 5 percent increase in shrimp exports this year to $4 billion.

    It also targets output of 930,000 tons and having 740,000 hectares of shrimp farms, said Tran Dinh Luan, director of the Directorate of Fisheries, said at the VietShrimp Aquaculture International Fair in Can Tho City on Wednesday.

    He expected Vietnam to become the world’s biggest producer of farmed shrimp by 2045 with an output of four million tons and a 25 percent global market share.

    Now there are 200,000 hectares of high-tech shrimp farms, 95 percent of them in the Mekong provinces of Bac Lieu and Soc Trang, mostly belonging to foreign companies.

    Shrimp exports face difficulties since costs have risen by 20 percent due to a 200-500 percent jump in transport costs, Luan said, pointing out that shipping a container of shrimp to Europe has increased from $1,500 to $6,500, and even $7,500.

    Last year, shrimp exports were up 11.7 percent to $3.8 billion, and output had been 900,000 tons.

  • Vietnam Railways pleads for government funding as staff remain unpaid

    Vietnam Railways pleads for government funding as staff remain unpaid

    Vietnam Railways owes its 11,300 workers four months’ salaries due to a funding delay by the government, and fears this could cause many to quit.

    It reminded the government that it was supposed to receive VND2.8 trillion ($121.3 million) at the beginning of this year, but has not, forcing it to pay minimum compensation to staff.

    Vu Anh Minh, its chairman, said the delay could cause barrier operators at grade crossings and patrol staff to quit since they have the lowest incomes.

    “The issue has pushed the company to the end of its road. We might not survive until the end of this month.”

    This is not the first time VNR has been forced to beseech the government for funding. Last year too it owed its staff salary for months but managed to survive that crisis.

    The problem can be tracked to a dispute between two government agencies. Last year VNR became one of 19 state-owned companies whose oversight passed to the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC), an entity that manages the government’s $43 billion investment in various companies.

    The CMSC refused to provide funds, saying maintenance workers should be paid by the Ministry of Transport since it controls the maintenance and infrastructure budget.

    But the ministry cannot provide funds to any entity it does not manage.

    A temporary solution was agreed upon last year and the transport ministry provided the needed sum of VND2.5 trillion.

    But there has been no decision yet on whether the same thing will happen this year, leaving VNR and its staff in the lurch.

    VNR wants the government to provide the money through the CMSC.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Buy2Sell Vietnam adds new stores in HCMC

    Buy2Sell Vietnam adds new stores in HCMC

    The B2B e-commerce platform’s newly opened stores are located in two of the most crowded shopping locations in Ho Chi Minh City, Lotte Mart and SC VivoCity Shopping Mall.

    Buy2Sell has launched a cosmetics store at Lotte Mart Vietnam, offering attractive choices and new selections of high-end cosmetic brands from Europe, South Korea, and the U.S.

    “Buy2Sell will continue to act as a strategic partner of Lotte Vietnam, distributing goods and developing a brand identity for foreign companies through Lotte Mart’s distribution system for a long time, broader coverage,” a Buy2Sell representative said.

    Lotte Mart is a retail brand of South Korea’s Lotte Group, a major supermarket chain in Asia. It now runs 46 stores in Indonesia, 14 in Vietnam and 123 in South Korea.

    On March 24, Buy2Sell continued to open a new store in SC Vivo City, specializing in a wide range of unique international appliances, accessories, gifts, food, and beverage, electronics and pet products.

    SC Vivo City is an all-in-one destination with five floors, offering the latest fashion products, hypermarkets, movie theaters, restaurants, entertainment, education and lifestyle brands. The shopping mall covers a total of 62,000 square meters.

    Since 2015, Buy2Sell Vietnam has distributed a diverse range of branded goods to the medium and high-end Vietnamese market.

    The company has signed distribution agreements with thousands of international suppliers and distributed over 200,000 items, including cosmetics, food and beverage, fashion, household appliances, pharmaceuticals and electronics items, imported from over 60 countries around the world.

  • ABBank seeks to hike capital through rights issuances of shares

    ABBank seeks to hike capital through rights issuances of shares

    ABBank plans to increase its charter capital by 65 percent to VND9.4 trillion ($407 million) through rights issuances of shares to existing shareholders.

    There will be two issuances, one each in the second and third quarters of this year, the Hanoi-based lender said in a plan it outlined to shareholders.

    The bank, established in 1993, plans to use the money raised for expansion and ensuring capital adequacy.

    It targets increasing pre-tax profits by 44 percent this year to VND1.97 trillion. It achieved 10 percent profit growth last year.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Hanoi Beer producer profits to slump to 10-year low

    Hanoi Beer producer profits to slump to 10-year low

    The producer of Hanoi Beer expects sales to be badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic this year and profits to fall to a 10-year low as a result.

    The Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage Jsc forecast post-tax profits of VND255 billion ($11 million), down 59 percent from 2020.

    Habeco said in a report that tourism companies, hotels, and restaurants continue to suffer due to Covid-19, and this would directly cause a decrease in consumption of alcoholic beverages.

    Another difficulty it cited was the rising competition with many brewers introducing new products in the popular market segment in which Habeco mainly operates.

    But it said it would strive to maintain its position as one of the biggest brewers in the northern and central regions.

  • Thailand’s top coffee chain to expand in Vietnam

    Thailand’s top coffee chain to expand in Vietnam

    Thailand’s leading coffee chain Café Amazon plans to expand in Vietnam after five months of establishment in the country.

    A spokesperson said recently the chain sees long-term potential in Vietnam and will expand in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces this year, but did not reveal specific figures.

    The chain opened its first outlet in southern Ben Tre Province last October, and later two in Tien Giang Province and Tra Vinh Province in December, all in Go! Supermarkets operated by Thai giant Central Retail.

    It also opened in December an outlet in HCMC.

    Thailand’s Central Group owns 40 percent of Café Amazon Vietnam, while the remainder belongs to another Thai fuel distributor PTT Oil and Retail Business.

    Café Amazon has over 3,000 stores in 10 countries.

    In Vietnam, it will have to compete with long-established domestic players like Highlands, Phuc Long, The Coffee House and Trung Nguyen.

    The market in the past has seen the withdrawal of foreign brands like NYDC – New York Dessert Café and Gloria Jean’s Coffees.

    Lees ook:

  • Kumho Tire eyes expansion of Vietnam plant

    Kumho Tire eyes expansion of Vietnam plant

    South Korea’s Kumho Tire plans to invest $305 million to expand its plant in Vietnam.

    The expansion, when completed in the first quarter of 2023, is expected to nearly double the plant’s capacity to 9.3 million tires a year.

    “After considering our plans to increase exports to North America and potential U.S. anti-dumping duties, we came to the conclusion that increasing the capacity of the Vietnamese plant would be the best solution,” a Kumho executive said.

    The $200-million plant in the My Phuoc 3 Industrial Park in the southern province of Binh Duong was built in 2008 to manufacture passenger car and light truck radial tires and is the company’s only plant in Southeast Asia.

    In January, China’s Jinyu Tire invested $320 million to expand its factory in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Eximbank seeks to pay dividends after 7 years

    Eximbank seeks to pay dividends after 7 years

    Lender Eximbank has sought approval from the State Bank of Vietnam to pay a dividend of VND1,800 ($0.07) per share for 2020.

    The bank sold its bad debts to the state-owned Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) in 2015 against bonds on the condition it is not allowed to pay dividends until the bonds are fully redeemed.

    According to documents it has circulated among shareholders, it redeemed the last of the bonds on March 30.

    The last time it paid dividends was for 2013.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • SpaceX satellite Internet faces regulatory hurdles in Vietnam

    SpaceX satellite Internet faces regulatory hurdles in Vietnam

    U.S. aerospace company SpaceX can only launch its satellite Internet service Starlink in Vietnam if it ties up with a local partner, Vietnam’s Department of Telecommunications said.

    SpaceX, owned by South African-American billionaire Elon Musk, recently announced that Starlink, now in its beta testing phase, would be launched in Vietnam next year and customers could preorder it for $99.

    However, telecommunications and Internet companies are in the list of conditional businesses, which requires the foreign enterprises to partner with a Vietnamese enterprise that is licensed to provide telecom services or establish a joint venture.

    According to the Department of Telecommunications, foreign enterprises are not allowed to independently provide internet and telecommunication services in Vietnam.

    The Department of Telecommunications told VnExpress that the company has yet to apply to launch the service in Vietnam.

    The department said prospective subscribers should consider carefully before making the pre-order since “it is unsure if Starlink can provide satellite Internet services in Vietnam.”

    The pre-order is currently available in 15 countries, according to its website.

    Lees ook:

  • Vietnam plans more solar, wind power cuts

    Vietnam plans more solar, wind power cuts

    Vietnam is set to cut up to 1.74 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy in the second half this year to deal with national grid overload.

    A plan proposed by the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC), under the national utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) intends to cut 180 million kilowatt-hours per month in the third quarter and 350-400 million kilowatt-hours per month in the last quarter.

    This time frame corresponds with the expected third and further quarter annual flooding in the northern, and central-southern regions, respectively, when hydropower power supply would increase.

    The proposed amount of 1.74 billion kilowatt-hours is 34 percent higher than EVN’s previous plan to cut 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy this year.Cutting solar and wind power has been the go-to solution for EVN since last year, after a surge in the number of such plants strained the national grid.

    As solar power plants depend on the number of sunshine hours during the day, authorities still have to rely on traditional sources such as coal, gas and hydropower to ensure grid stability.

    This is why solar power, whose output could fluctuate by up to thousands of megawatts in seconds depending on the intensity of sunlight, is the first to be cut when there is an overload.

    Another reason for the output cut is slower growth in consumption. Last year, due to Covid-19 impacts, demand grew by less than 2.5 percent compared to 10 percent in previous years.

    The cuts have hurt renewable energy developers. A leader of a solar power company in the central province of Ninh Thuan, who asked not be identified, said his plant has seen output cut since the end of last year.

    The company has to bear losses of hundreds of million Vietnamese dong (VND100 million = $4,300) each month, not to mention suffer interest payment to banks, he added.

    The Phu Lac Wind Power Plant in the central province of Binh Thuan is also suffering output cuts.

    The plant’s CEO, Bui Van Thinh, said both developers and EVN were victims in this situation as the number of new plants exceed the government’s original plan, while there is a lack of synchronization in source and transmission investment.

    The transmission line has reached its max capacity as dozens of plants come online, he said, adding: “Our revenues have plunged and the situation is tense.”

    Although energy authorities had earlier warned of power shortages this year, the boom in renewable power development has in reality created an oversupply, creating problems for EVN.

    Solar capacity surged to 19,400 megawatts-peak at the end of last year, accounting for 25 percent of total power capacity. This capacity came from over 100 farms and 101,000 rooftop constructions.

    Last year, authorities cut solar power by a total of 365 million kilowatt-hours after the Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan grids were overloaded.

  • Bamboo Airways warned for overselling tickets

    Bamboo Airways warned for overselling tickets

    Vietnam’s aviation authorities have ordered Bamboo Airways to stop selling tickets for the wrong flight slots after many passengers complained of canceled and delayed flights.

    Each airline has an allocated number of flight slots, meaning a specific period of time wherein an aircraft can take off or land at an airport depending on the latter’s capacity, but Bamboo Airways has sold tickets for slots that it does not have, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).

    In recent weeks customers have been complaining about Bamboo Airways frequently canceling or delaying flights, especially on the Hanoi-Da Nang route.

    On March 4, the budget carrier published a public apology over its changing of schedules, blaming it on maintenance work happening at the Noi Bai International Airport.

    However, a representative of Noi Bai airport said the maintenance work had finished earlier and that flight schedules were not affected by it.

    The CAAV has informed Bamboo Airways that if it ignored the warning and continued to offer tickets for the wrong flight slots, the carrier will not get more slots for six months.

    In January, Bamboo Airways, Vietjet, and Vietnam Airlines all received warnings for selling tickets for the wrong slots for the annual Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

    Lees ook:

  • HDBank profit up 87 pct

    HDBank profit up 87 pct

    HDBank reported a 67 percent increase year-on-year in consolidated profit in the first quarter to over VND2 trillion ($86.9 million).

    Its outstanding loans at the end of the quarter were VND198 trillion, up 5 percent from the end of last year. The parent bank’s profit was VND1.8 trillion, up 87.7 percent. The lender also owns consumer finance company HD SAISON.

    It targets full-year profits of VND7.28 trillion, an increase of 25 percent from 2020, and credit growth of 26 percent. It plans to pay a 25 percent dividend for 2020 in the form of stocks.

    HDBank is among the few banks that have not signed an exclusive bancassurance contract.

    The bank recorded VND5.8 trillion in consolidated profit last year, a year-on-year increase of 15.9 percent.

  • IMF sees Vietnam economy growing

    IMF sees Vietnam economy growing

    Vietnam’s economy is set to grow at 6.5 percent this year, well above the ASEAN average of 4.9 percent, as it shrugs off the impacts of Covid-19.

    It is the second-highest rate forecast by the International Monetary Fund for ASEAN-5 countries. The Philippines tops with 6.9 percent, Malaysia ties Vietnam at 6.5 percent, Indonesia is expected to grow at 4.3 percent, and Thailand at 2.6 percent.

    Vietnam’s growth could rise to 7.2 percent in 2022, the IMF said.

    Its unemployment rate of 3.3 percent last year is set to drop to 2.7 percent this year, the second-lowest among the ASEAN-5 and only higher than Thailand’s 1.5 percent. In the first quarter of this year GDP growth was 4.48 percent, 0.8 percentage points higher year-on-year.

    Market research company Fitch Solutions has forecast Vietnam will grow at an average of 6.5 percent through the next decade.

    The government targets 6.5–7 percent growth target for 2021-25.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Vietnam allows Boeing 737 Max to enter its airspace again

    Vietnam allows Boeing 737 Max to enter its airspace again

    Vietnam’s Transport Ministry has allowed the Boeing 737 Max aircraft to pass through the country’s airspace after two years.

    The decision was taken following a proposal made by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) last month, citing Boeing’s efforts to address technical issues of the aircraft and assessments by aviation authorities in the U.S. and Europe.

    However, the ministry has ordered CAAV to continue monitoring related issues and updating itself with information from peers in China, Australia, and Russia, countries that have not yet opened up their airspace for this aircraft model.

    The ministry also said that after these countries lift their respective bans on the aircraft and if it meets Vietnamese regulations, the CAAV can report it for the ministry to consider permission for the aircraft to operate in and be imported into Vietnam.

    The U.S. allowed the Boeing 737 Max to resume operations in December and Europe did so in January.

    The Boeing 737 Max aircraft was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after 346 people were killed in two crashes in the space of a few months in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook: