Saigon – Mekong Beer Joint Stock Company (code WSB) has just announced the documents for its 2024 Annual General Meeting with a revenue target of 990 billion VND, a 13% increase compared to the same period last year. However, the expected after-tax profit is only around 66 billion VND, a 21% decrease compared to the previous year’s performance. If the set plan is achieved, this will be the lowest net profit in the past 11 years of Saigon – Mekong Beer.
A cautious business plan is proposed in the context where the company predicts that the economy in 2024 will still face many difficulties due to rising raw material prices affected by the epidemic, as well as political tensions and economic recession risks still exist, and consumer demand is slow to recover.
In 2023, WSB recorded revenues and profits of nearly 878 billion VND and 83 billion VND, an increase of 15% and 16% respectively compared to the same period last year. Although last year’s revenue did not meet the plan, the profit was 32% higher than the previous target.
With the achieved results, the company proposes to distribute dividends for the year 2023 at a rate of 40% in cash – higher than the plan of 30% through the early return in the year. In which, WSB has advanced dividends of 10% in December 2023. Therefore, the company still has a dividend distribution of 30% for 2023, but the specific time has not been announced.
WSB is a company that has a history of paying regular cash dividends to shareholders every year since it started trading on the UPCoM exchange in 2010. The peak was in 2017 when the cash dividend rate reached 70%, and in the 2019-2020 period, it maintained 50% each year. In recent years, the company has consistently paid cash dividends at a rate of over 30%. Regarding the 2024 plan, the company is expected to maintain a dividend rate of 40% in cash.
Saigon – Mekong Beer Joint Stock Company was established in 2006 on the basis of the merger of 2 units, Saigon – Can Tho Beer Joint Stock Company and Saigon – Soc Trang Beer Joint Stock Company. By 2010, the shares of Saigon – Mekong Beer Joint Stock Company officially traded on the UPCOM with the stock code WSB.
In the shareholder structure of WSB, Saigon – Beer – Beverage Corporation (Sabeco, code SAB) is the parent company holding 70.55% of the capital, followed by the AFC Vietnam Fund with 7.22%. With the ownership rate above, most of the dividend money will flow into the parent company Sabeco’s pocket.
In the market, WSB shares have been stagnant around the price range of 51.x for over half a year. Due to thin liquidity, the trading volume is also a few thousand units, even with sessions without any transactions.
