Leading seafood firm Minh Phu Corp plots return to stock exchange

Minh Phu Seafood Corporation will put the issue of listing to its upcoming annual general shareholders' meeting

An awaited return

The upcoming annual general shareholders’ meeting of Minh Phu Corporation scheduled to take place on March 9 will cast vote on whether to list the corporation. The exact date for the firm’s return to the Vietnamese public market remains undecided.

Minh Phu, one of Vietnam’s top seafood firms, voluntarily left the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange on March 31, 2015, stating that it needs time to restructure its business and find suitable foreign partners. According to the firm, its listed stock price at the time did not reflect the true value of the company, making it a prudent decision to quit the public market.

At the time of leaving, Minh Phu’s stock stood at VND122,000 ($5.36), meaning the firm’s capitalisation was VND700 billion ($30.8 million).

To prepare for the official comeback, Minh Phu has floated its shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market last October, quoting prices at VND79,000 ($3.47) apiece. The stock has been consistently rising since its listing, reaching VND101,600 ($4.47) on March 3.

Minh Phu's founder and CEO Le Van Quang is known in Vietnam as the "King of Shrimp" thanks to his long-term success in the business.

Minh Phu suffered from two years of losses before bouncing back in 2017

Future plans

The seafood firm is also planning to increase its charter capital to VND2 trillion ($88 million) via a series of private placements to existing shareholders, employees, and strategic partners in 2018 and 2019. According to representatives, the new capital will boost the firm’s financial health and support its expansion ambitions.

In 2018, Minh Phu aims to reach VND18.2 trillion ($800 million) of gross revenue and VND990 billion ($43.5 million) of consolidated post-tax profit. Production capacity is expected to reach 63 trillion tonnes of finished prawn products.

The biggest risks to Minh Phu’s activities include increasing competition from neighbouring countries, such as India and Indonesia, as well as protectionist policies from major markets, most notably the US.

In related news, Minh Phu’s deputy CEO Chu Thi Binh recently fell victim to a massive bank fraud in which VND245 billion ($10.7 million) was stolen from her savings account at Eximbank. The culprit, identified as the deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh branch of Eximbank, remains at loose.

As the news broke out, Eximbank has offered to pay VND14.8 billion ($650,000) of up-front compensation to Binh, which the businesswoman refused. The investigation is still going, with the State Bank of Vietnam getting involved.