On March 6, the Vietnam stock market had a trading session with a decrease in points on all 3 exchanges. At the end of the trading session, VN-Index decreased by 7.25 points to 1,262.73 points, equivalent to a 0.57% decrease. Contrary to the market, the prices of 2 stocks of Masan (MSN) and Techcombank (TCB) increased today.
Specifically, MSN stock increased by 1.6%, equivalent to an increase of 1,200 VND/share to the level of 76,900 VND/share. With this price level, Masan’s market capitalization is currently over 110,000 billion VND. If calculated from the beginning of February until now, MSN stock has increased by 19%.
Meanwhile, TCB stock increased by 1.3%, equivalent to an increase of 550 VND/share to the level of 42,750 VND/share. The current market capitalization is nearly 150,600 billion VND. If calculated from the beginning of February until now, TCB stock has increased by 24%.
Recently, Techcombank also ended a 10-year no cash dividend policy, and is expected to propose a plan to distribute dividends at the 2024 Shareholders’ General Meeting at a rate of 20% of after-tax profit, equivalent to 15% of par value.
“This will ensure regular cash flow for shareholders, as they will have direct income from annual business results, while still optimizing benefits from potential price increases based on the leading position of the bank in the Vietnamese financial market,” said Mr. Phung Quang Hung, Vice General Director of Techcombank.
For Masan, 2023 was the year when Masan recorded the lowest net profit in the past 10 years with 419 billion VND – a decrease of over 88% compared to the same period. The growth of consumer business segments cannot compensate for the strong increase in financial costs in the interest rate and exchange rate fluctuation environment, and the unsatisfactory business results of non-core segments and associate companies.
However, according to Bao Viet Securities (BVSC), a bright spot for Masan is that financial pressure will decrease significantly from 2024. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, MSN’s upcoming 12-month debt due is 8,963 billion VND (down 62%) and accounts for 21.6% of total long-term debt.
At the end of 2023, MSN also announced that it had fully paid off its maturing debt obligations in 2023. In 2024, the total bond maturity according to calculations by analysts is only 6,000 billion VND, with improved cash flow along with a large amount of money up to 250 million USD from the recent deal with Bain Capital, in which liquidity is no longer a concern for this company in the near future.
According to the perspective of VietCap in its latest analysis report, MSN owns many consumer business segments from food and beverage production to a nationwide retail network, and each segment has significant synergy with each other.
In the past 3 years, the leadership team has positioned MSN more clearly as a consumer company, with increased ownership and investments in business activities related to the consumer segment as well as divestment from non-core animal feed business.
In particular, the Company is currently aiming to reduce its ownership ratio in another non-core business activity, Masan High-Tech Materials (MHT). VietCap sees this as an important factor supporting a significant increase in MSN’s enterprise value.
Starting together in Eastern Europe and then returning home to develop their business careers to new heights, the billionaire duo Ho Hung Anh and Nguyen Dang Quang have built Masan and Techcombank into 2 leading companies in Vietnam.
The two companies have many connections as both Mr. Ho Hung Anh and Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang own shares in TCB and MSN. Masan is also the largest shareholder of Techcombank, owning over 524 million TCB shares, equivalent to a 14.88% ownership ratio. Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang is also the Vice Chairman of Techcombank’s Board of Directors.
After the increase in stock prices, currently, Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang’s securities asset block reached nearly 24,100 billion VND and Mr. Ho Hung Anh’s reached over 24,900 billion VND, increasing by 375 billion and 384 billion VND respectively today.
