CEO of Mai Linh Group dismissed

CEO of Mai Linh Group Rahn Wood at his appointment in February

Rahn Wood, the CEO of Mai Linh Group has been removed from his position from September 1 after only seven months to be replaced by current deputy general director Pham Minh Suong.

Previously, Ho Huy, chairman of the Board of Director held the CEO position, however, according to the regulation, he is not allowed to hold these two positions at the same time. As a result, Rahn Wood was assigned as CEO in February 2020.

With an experience of 33 years working at both local and international banks and 10 years staying and working in Vietnam, Rahn Wood has deep understanding of Vietnamese culture. Especially, he has a great deal of experience in digital transformation. Thus, he was expected to guide Mai Linh to get its leading position in the taxi playground.

At the inauguration ceremony, Ho Huy said that this assignment showed Mai Linh’s determination in adopting technology into its operations.

Accordingly, technology was to be applied in sectors, including cashless payment, to run Mai Linh into a global company and the leading enterprise in transport and logistics.

At its annual shareholders' meeting in July, Mai Linh shared its ambition to operate 20,000 technology taxies after 2021 and dominate the ride-hailing market.

Regarding its business result, in 2019 – the first year the two subsidiaries Mai Linh Mien Bac and Mai Linh Mien Trung merged to become Mai Linh Group – it reported bleak business with an accumulated loss of VND1 trillion ($43.48 million).

Notably, last year, it acquired VND2.22 trillion ($96.52 million) in net revenue, down 10 per cent on-year. The net loss was VND148 billion ($6.43 million), up 32 per cent on-year. Thanks to having a disclosed profit worth VND150 billion ($6.5 million), Mai Linh reported a net after-tax loss decreased to VND6 billion ($260,870) from VND26 billion ($1.13 million) last year.

It had only VND53 billion ($2.3 million) in cash by the end of 2019.

Although the business results of the first half of this year have yet to be disclosed, however, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mai Linh faces difficulties to create a breakthrough.