Lotte opposes PAN at Bibica's general shareholders’ meeting

The Bibica’s general shareholders’ meeting on June 22

At the opening of the meeting, the representative of large shareholder Lotte Confectionery Co., Ltd. asked to add the investment plan in Long An province to the meeting’s agenda but was not approved.

BBC 2018 business plan was voted down by 53.2 per cent of the total votes, with 46.7 per cent in favour and 0.1 per cent of blank vote. This figure showed that shareholders of PAN with the ownership of over 50 per cent did not agree with the proposal of Lotte shareholder, whose owns 46.7 per cent of total BBC shares.

Lotte continued asking for the detail of project in Long An because shareholders need to know transparent information. PAN Group’s representative disagreed and said that this is a very important project for BBC’s development and this information needs to be kept secret and discussed by big shareholders.

Against these arguments, Truong Phu Chien, vice chairman of BBC’s Board of Management, said that projects with the total investment exceeding 50 per cent of the company’s total assets will be announced at the meeting. Those with total investment less than 50 per cent of the company’s total assets, such as the project in Long An, will be submitted for the approval of the board of management. BBC only provided information on this project to big shareholders.

If Lotte does not know the project in Long An, perhaps it is not considered as a big shareholder compared to PAN in Bibica.

The Long An project is listed on BBC's 2018 projects without information on schedule, investment value or location. As Lottes' request for information was refused, Lotte did not approve BBC’s business plan for the year. Thereby, rate of votes for this plan is 53.3 per cent of approval and 46.7 per cent of disapproval.

According to the submitted documents, Bibica expects to gain VND1.5 trillion ($66 million) in revenue, up 16.3 per cent on-year, including VND98.7 billion ($4.35 million) of after-tax profit, up 1.4 per cent on-year.

Against the arguments at the meeting, Chien revealed some information on the project in Long An. Part of the project will be deployed and completed in 2020, and the total investment this year is expected at VND250 billion ($11 million).

BBC will also spend VND22 billion ($0.97 million) to upgrade equipment and machines in its older facilities. Shareholders will be paid dividend at 12 per cent by cash or shares.

Talking with tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn about the firm’s business results, Chien said that revenue in the second quarter of this year is expected to rise by 15 per cent compared to the same period last year.

However, due to high costs, Bibica’s profit will depend on new products like Hi-Fat. Last year, BBC announced detailed information of its other projects before developing, but it became the opportunities for competitors. Thus, the BBC board of management will announce all information after completing the development of the project.