The Board of Directors of Hòa Phát Group Joint Stock Company (code: HPG) has just issued a resolution on the schedule and venue for the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in 2024.
This year’s AGM will be held on the morning of April 11th at Melia Hanoi Hotel, about half a month later than the previous annual general meeting. The last registration date to finalize the list of shareholders is March 11th, 2024.
In previous years, Hòa Phát’s annual general meeting has always been crowded with attendees, and the conference hall is even full. This is because Hòa Phát is the company with the most shareholders on the stock exchange. As of the end of March 2023, Hòa Phát recorded 179,108 shareholders, an increase of about 20,000 shareholders compared to the previous year. This number is equivalent to the population of some central districts of Hanoi such as Tây Hồ, Hoàn Kiếm. This has led to HPG being known as a “national stock”.
Not only that, Hòa Phát’s annual general meeting also attracts attention with a series of impressive statements from Mr. Trần Đình Long. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of this Group always answers shareholders’ questions in a straightforward and concentrated manner, does not hide difficulties, and always expresses a cautious viewpoint. Some examples are: “The most difficult period for the steel industry is over, but the recovery speed will depend a lot on market demand”; “Hòa Phát is not a place that cannot function without Mr. Long. Without Mr. Long, there will be Mr. Thắng (CEO of Hòa Phát), and if there is no Mr. Thắng, there is someone else”; “In terms of strategy, thinking, and desire, Hòa Phát wants to diversify to avoid risks but does not gain or lose” …
Stock price surges to 21-month high
Returning to the present, tens of thousands of Hòa Phát shareholders are preparing to attend the meeting in the context of the relatively strong performance of HPG stock. Since the beginning of November 2023, HPG stock has increased by 27% and reached the highest level in 21 months.
With the current price of 29,200 dong/share, the market capitalization of Hòa Phát is about 170,000 billion dong, an increase of 36,000 billion dong in just over three months. This market capitalization has made the leading steel company ranked 7th in the list of the most valuable enterprises on the stock exchange.
The stock’s increase was recorded after receiving positive signals from the Group’s business results. In the fourth quarter of 2023, while Hòa Phát’s sales revenue increased by 6,133 billion dong, the cost only increased by 5,406 billion dong, which increased the gross profit margin. After-tax profit reached 2,969 billion dong, an increase of 48% compared to the previous quarter.
In the whole year of 2023, Hòa Phát produced 6.7 million tons of crude steel, a decrease of 10% compared to 2022. The sales volume of HRC steel products, construction steel, high-quality steel, and steel billets reached 6.72 million tons, a decrease of 7%. Although the annual total consumption is lower than 2022, the overall picture of HPG’s steel business has gradually improved as the data tends to grow in each quarter and reached the best level in the fourth quarter, both in the domestic and export markets.
In terms of business performance, Hòa Phát achieved a revenue of 120,355 billion dong in 2023, a decrease of 16% compared to the same period last year. After-tax profit was 6,800 billion dong, corresponding to 85% of the annual plan but only 1/5 of the record level achieved in 2021.
In the future, the company will continue to closely follow the progress of major investment projects, especially Dung Quất 2 Steel Production Complex, to ensure effective control of the projects. As of December 31st, 2023, Hòa Phát has invested over 22,555 billion dong in the Dung Quất 2 project, an increase of more than 13,000 billion dong compared to the beginning of the year.
