Sugar company plans foreign listing

Sugar is packed at a Bourbon Tay Ninh plant. The company plans to list its shares on a foreign stock exchange.- VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Vy

At an SBT shareholder meeting, Pham Hong Duong, a member of the company's board, said, "Our plans for listing are proceeding well, and SBT will be listed abroad soon."

The shareholders approved the company's merger with SEC. SBT would issue shares that can be swapped with SEC shares at a 1:1.05 ratio.

According to Bao Viet Securities Co, the consulting agency for the merger, the deal would be completed this year.

SBT's total assets after the merger are expected to be worth VND5.2 trillion (US$245.2 million) by 2018, making it the largest firm in the sector.

It has a charter capital of nearly VND1.5 trillion ($70.7 million), while SEC has VND390 billion ($18.3 million).

In the first six months of this year, SBT's revenue and profits reached VND1 trillion ($47 million) and VND67 billion ($3.1 million) respectively. Between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, the company hopes to increase the revenue and profits to stand at VND2 trillion ($94 million) and VND175.6 billion ($8.2 million) respectively.

Currently, the domestic sugar industry encounters a number of challenges while competing with imported products. Next year, as the ASEAN free-trade pact is finalised, the Vietnamese sugar market will open fully and the import duty will be reduced from 5 per cent to zero.

According to SBT chairwoman Dang Huynh Uc My, the company's target of paying dividend at 10 to 12 per cent for the July 2014 – June 2015 period was a hard nut to crack due to the context. However, during the first six months this year, the firm has received some good news, with the export of several tonnes of sugar to Singapore and the receipt of positive feedback from customers.

My expected her company's dividends to increase in the new fiscal year.