Celebrating the Best IR Performing Listed Company of 2024

The leading businesses in Investor Relations (IR) activities among the 708 listed companies were officially announced at the IR Awards 2024 Ceremony.

Two honored categories, divided by market capitalization, included the Most Beloved Investor 2024 and the Most Appreciated Financial Institution 2024. These are listed companies that comply with information disclosure, have strategic governance, transparent financial communications, and achieve effective communication between the enterprise, the financial community, and other stakeholders. This contributes to the company’s securities achieving reasonable valuations and optimized enterprise values.

At this year’s IR Awards, ST8 was honored for the first time with the title of Small Cap with the Most Beloved IR Activities in 2024. Chairman of the Board of Directors ST8 Nguyen Van Hoang (Hans Nguyen) said that he was very happy and honored that ST8 won this award because it is an encouragement for the company to strive to improve its IR activities.

“I used to be in the role of looking for investment opportunities, so I understand the importance of when a company has value, it must know how to present and share with investors who truly care, so that the right audience can recognize its value,” shared the Chairman of ST8.

Listed Company with IR Activities Most Appreciated by Financial Institutions 2024

IR View Workshop: “Greening” the Supply Chain

Within the framework of the IR Awards Ceremony, the IR View workshop with the theme “Greening” the Supply Chain featured sharing from 6 speakers – representatives from listed companies, fund management companies, and securities companies – about practical stories on the journey to green transition, effective solutions to access high-quality capital sources, and practical experience in operating the IR department.

Sustainable development has become a global trend because if we do not take action, we and future generations will be severely affected. When introducing the concepts of sustainable development, the responsibility falls heavily on businesses – the important elements in the supply chain. Enterprises are faced with the requirement to transform their operating and business methods to ensure growth while protecting human, resource, and environmental resources.

Ms. Bui Thi Thao Ly (SSV): Disclosure of ESG Information Increases Opportunities to Access Foreign Capital

Representing the perspective of the seller in the stock market, Ms. Bui Thi Thao Ly, Director of the Analysis Center of Shinhan Securities Vietnam JSC (SSV), shared the story of “Disclosure of ESG Information Increases Opportunities to Access Foreign Capital.”

Ms. Bui Thi Thao Ly, Director of the Analysis Center of SSV, shared at the IR View Workshop

Ms. Ly said that in recent years, SSV has received many new questions and analysis requests from investors, research groups, and rating organizations about the level of commitment and sustainable development practices of listed companies. In particular, international investors face challenges in evaluating and screening potential stocks in Vietnam for ESG investment themes amid the growing trend of “green” and responsible investing.

Statistics in Asia (excluding Japan, Australia, and New Zealand) show that the number of ESG funds has increased significantly since 2020, concentrated in countries such as China, South Korea, and Thailand, with total assets of up to 58 billion USD as of the second quarter of 2024, more than ten times higher than a decade ago.

However, it is unfortunate that Vietnam is lagging behind other countries in the region, with only one ESG investment fund, lower than neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand, which have been booming in recent years.

There are many reasons why Vietnam’s “green investment” field is behind some countries in the region, but according to SSV representatives, ESG data is the biggest barrier, affecting the screening of investment opportunities.

According to SSV representatives, statistics from Bloomberg show that only about 3% of listed companies on HOSE have data for evaluation, a surprising rate given that a PwC survey found that 44% of listed companies in Vietnam have made commitments and plans for ESG.

The level of ESG information disclosure also only meets more than 23% of the system of evaluation criteria with many quantitative indicators. In particular, the level of disclosure of environmental information is less than 10%, social information is 14%, and governance information is significantly higher, at nearly 47%. This also shows that governance ranking is the top concern of enterprises.

Although the number of ESG investment funds in Vietnam is still small, in reality, there are leading enterprises in disclosing sustainable development information that have attracted a large number of global ESG funds. A typical example is VNM, which has attracted 300 foreign investment funds, including 126 ESG funds. This shows that proactively practicing ESG reporting helps Vietnamese enterprises access global ESG funds with large scale.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the total assets of global ESG funds are estimated to be much larger than those in Asia, reaching 30 thousand billion USD in 2022 and expected to exceed 40 thousand billion USD by 2030.

Therefore, SSV believes that practicing sustainable development reporting, fully disclosing information, and paying attention to filling in the required information for analysis and ranking by domestic and foreign organizations will significantly increase the opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to access ESG funds.

In addition to attracting investment, the need to improve the image and reputation of the company, increase competitiveness in the market, attract and retain talent… are also the driving forces that encourage enterprises to implement sustainable development reporting.

As a securities company analyst, SSV hopes to read sustainable development reports from more listed companies, with increasingly improved standards, and is proud to contribute to conveying this information to investors through its analysis reports, joining hands with enterprises towards the national goal of Net Zero by 2050.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long (HD Capital): IR Can Be the Key to Unlocking Billion-Dollar Capital Flows into Vietnam

After a long period of fighting in the Vietnamese stock market, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long, General Director of HD Capital Investment Fund Management Joint Stock Company (HDCapital), witnessed the incredible transformation of investor relations (IR) activities in Vietnam.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long – General Director of HD Capital Investment Fund Management JSC

“More than 10 years ago, in 2011-2012, I still remember a Vietstock report showing that only less than 10% of listed companies met the IR standards,” Mr. Long began. “By 2018-2019, this figure had increased to 40%. And now, in 2024, we have reached the 60% mark.”

These figures reflect remarkable progress, but at the same time, they also show that there is still much room for improvement.

Mr. Long said that while the overall picture has improved, there is still a clear gap in IR practices between large and small enterprises. Explaining this disparity, the General Director of HDCapital said that resources have affected the way IR is implemented in enterprises.

“In small businesses, the IR department is often assigned to the accounting and finance department. They may work very hard, but they cannot be as professional as a well-trained IR team,” Mr. Long explained.

Different industries also have different levels of IR compliance. “Companies in the financial, banking, and insurance sectors tend to have better IR practices than some other sectors such as real estate or construction,” he noted.

Looking ahead, the General Director of HDCapital said that there are still many challenges. He pointed out a notable point: “Only 10% of listed companies provide bilingual reports. This is a major barrier to accessing international investors.”

However, he also emphasized the emerging opportunities. “After the COVID-19 pandemic, organizing online meetings and webinars has become more popular. This helps businesses reach more investors at a lower cost,” he said.

When asked about the role of effective IR activities, Mr. Long mentioned three main factors: transparency and accuracy of information, fairness in treating shareholders, and the ability to build long-term trust.

“We cannot underestimate the importance of treating small and individual shareholders fairly,” Mr. Long emphasized. “I have witnessed many shareholder meetings where the management tends to favor large shareholders. This is a point that needs to be improved because a negative comment on social media, no matter how small, can have a significant impact on the company’s business.”

Opportunities from Market Upgrade and ESG Trend

Looking to the future, Mr. Long is particularly hopeful that effective IR activities will promote the market upgrade of Vietnam and the ESG investment trend.

Market upgrade has long been an issue that has been “haunting” the minds of the Vietnamese government and investors. Currently, Vietnam has also made new strides to promote this process, such as the Ministry of Finance’s recent issuance of a new circular related to pre-funding (pre-funding) for foreign investors.

“Vietnam has met 7 out of 9 criteria of FTSE and 10 out of 18 criteria of MSCI for upgrading to an emerging market. When this happens, we can attract billions of dollars in foreign investment,” Mr. Long predicted. He cited: “When upgraded, Qatar and the UAE attracted 2 billion USD, while Pakistan attracted 500 million USD.”

Regarding the ESG trend, Mr. Long gave an impressive figure: “Currently, there are about 140,000 billion USD flowing into ESG investment funds globally. This figure is five times the GDP of the US. This is a huge amount of capital and can change the picture of an industry.”

Mr. Long concluded: “IR activities are not just a bridge between businesses and investors. It is the key to optimizing shareholder value and promoting the sustainable development of enterprises.”

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