VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS UPDATE

19-02-09

• The Electricity of Vietnam has reported that it is to invest almost 50 trillion VND in electricity generation sources during 2009, including nuclear power plants. The State-run business revealed that it has raised 44.39 trillion VND so far and is actively seeking the remaining 5.6 trillion VND. The group said that it would make full use of official development assistance (ODA) and preferential credit sources, seek commercial loans, and ensure the smooth progress of an approved plan to issue 4 trillion VND worth of bonds. With the planned investment, EVN will strive to put into operation nine electricity plants with a combined capacity of 2,696 MW and commence construction of four thermal-electricity plants, capable of producing 3,800 MW in total, this year.

• Germany’s Metro Cash & Carry Group began construction of a 20 million USD wholesale trade centre in southern Dong Nai province on January 16. This is Metro Cash & Carry’s 9th wholesale trade centre in Vietnam and the first in the southeastern region. Once operational in June 2009, the 50,000 sq.m centre is expected to provide a wide range of goods for local consumers, including food and agro-forestry products.

• International call charges from Vietnam are lower than any other country in the region thanks to the 50% discount offered by the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) last September. The group’s 2008 revenue increased 19% against over 2007, at more than 55 trillion VND (3.2 billion USD). In 2008, VNPT added 22 million subscribers to its list of phone users, increasing the number of its subscribers to 49 million. VNPT plans to increase its revenue during 2009 to around 60 trillion VND whilst making further reductions to call charges.

• A total of 115 businesses from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been honored for their outstanding achievements in production and contributions to the neighborly friendship between the three countries. The Vietnamese award-winners included the Ministry of Defense’s Corporation 15, the Vietnam-Laos Rubber Joint Stock Company, the Hoang Anh-Gia Lai, and the Truong Son Construction Corporation. A ceremony to grant awards was held by the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Vinasme) in Hanoi on Jan. 18.

• The total number of ATM cards issued last year was 1.1 million, equal to the number in 2007, according to the year-end report of the State Bank of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City Branch. The total value of ATM card transactions reached 69,000 billion VND (4 billion USD), up 32% compared with 2007, the report said. The number of cards now amounts to more than 4.2 million and the number of ATM machines is 2,257, according to the report. More than 146,000 civil servants in the city received salaries through ATMs in 2008, accounting for 92.9% of government employees.
• Vietnam’s footwear and garment exports to the Czech Republic reached 64 million USD in 2008, up by 50% compared with the previous year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Vietnamese Embassy’s Trade Commission in the Czech Republic said garment and footwear was now the two major Vietnamese imports to the country. The ministry said Vietnam was expected to earn export revenue of 330 million USD from the Czech Republic in 2009, a year-on-year increase of 27%. That projected figure includes 80 million USD from garment and footwear products, an increase of 26% compared with 2008. Other major Vietnamese exports to the Czech Republic include coffee, tea, pepper, seafood and furniture.
• Gas supplier MTGas Joint Stock Company (MTG) on Jan. 15 became the latest firm to list at the HCMC Stock Exchange, bringing the total number of companies on the board to 172. The firm, with a chartered capital of 80 billion VND (4.5 million USD), provides liquefied petroleum gas and petrol to industrial and household customers. It also engages in goods transportation, warehouse business, infrastructure development, real estate and financial investment. The company, headquartered in Long An province, earned a net profit of 1.5 billion VND in the first nine months of 2008 with a turnover of 106 billion VND. This was down from the 12.7 billion VND it earned in 2007 when its revenue was 103 billion VND.

• Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Vietnam's fifth largest lender, said it made a gross profit of 2.56 trillion dong ($151 million) last year, up 36.9 percent from the previous year. The total assets of the Ho Chi Minh City-based bank rose 35 percent to 115.24 trillion dong, it said in a statement seen on Monday. The 2008 results were not audited.
- Culled from Vietnam News Service VNS.