Corporate

Equitised construction giant Licogi earned little after-tax profit in recent years, which cannot cover the instalment payments of its half a trillion dong debts. Licogi has been floundering since its equitisation in 2016 The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has just sent a report to related agencies about the financial statement and performance of Licogi in 2017 and the first half of 2018, showing poor results. Accordingly, in 2017 Licogi’s revenue was VND2.721 trillion ($118.3 million), but pre-tax profit was negative VND58.7 billion ($2.55 million), while the corporation’s revenue in the first half of 2018 was VND1.313 trillion ($57.1 million), with VND9.8 billion ($0.4 million) of after-tax profit. The report also says that this poor performance has lowered Licogi’s and its holding company’s capital preservation ratios to 0.79 and 0.83, respectively. Queries have been raised in December 2017, when the company was warned by auditors who noted that its … [Read more...] about Licogi cannot cover debts with tiny profit

ULAANBAATAR: Mongolian authorities have temporarily closed all KFC restaurants in the country after more than 200 customers suffered food poisoning symptoms and dozens were hospitalised. The first cases emerged earlier this month, with 16 people showing symptoms of food poisoning, including diarrhoea, vomiting and high fever after eating at the fried chicken franchise. The department decided to shut down all KFC restaurants while it investigates what happened. (Photo: AFP/JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER) Ulaanbaatar's Metropolitan Professional Inspection Department said 247 similar cases have been reported and 42 people have been hospitalised. The department decided to shut down the country's 11 KFC restaurants - all based in the capital - while it investigates what happened. A preliminary investigation found that 35 employees at a restaurant were not thoroughly vetted to handle food, with most of them having blank medical examination reports, which is illegal. The restaurant also … [Read more...] about Mongolia shuts KFC after dozens hospitalised

Digitisation helped VPBank reduce CIR from 35.5 per cent in 2017 to 34.3 per cent in 2018 Fuel for life Hanoi-based VPBank has been known to invest rather seriously in advanced technologies, innovative banking solutions, and eventually a digital bank last year. Its subsidiary, FE Credit, also devoted ample resources to disruptive technologies for an extreme makeover of its entire operations, from front to back office. Last summer, VPBank launched its Dream app assisting its customers in managing their personal finance via the convenience of their smartphone. During fall, it introduced the one-of-a-kind digital bank called Yolo that embeds an incorporated ecosystem of financial services and facilities like dining, entertainment, transportation, and so on. FE Credit, similarly, introduced its automated lending platform called $Nap in 2018, together with SHIELD (an app to purchase insurance online) and FE Card Mobile (a virtual credit card for FE’s credit card users), all aimed … [Read more...] about VPBank seeks digitisation for cost reduction and profit maximisation

Japanese car giant Honda reports a new record in scooter sales volume in Vietnam, with the total sales of scooters expected to reach 2.5 million units in the 2019 fiscal year. Honda is confident in a very successful financial year While there are two months left of the fiscal year (from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019), Honda reported total sales of scooters of 2.263 million units, up 9 per cent on-year. In January alone, 262,992 Honda scooters were sold in Vietnam, signifying an increase of 2 per cent on-month and 3 per cent on-year. Besides, the company exported 12,836 units. In the 2018 fiscal year (from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018), the company sold 2.38 million scooters, thus with the increase of 220,000 units per year, scooter sales this year are expected to reach a new record. Besides, in the 2018 fiscal year, the total number of motorbikes sold by the five foreign-invested firms (Honda Vietnam, Yamaha Vietnam, Suzuki Vietnam, Piaggio Vietnam, and SYM) reached 3.28 … [Read more...] about Honda acquires massive profit in Vietnam

Several US toy makers intend to move their production facilities in China to other markets, including Vietnam, due to concerns about negative effects of the US-China trade war. US toy producers plan to move operations to Vietnam Some US toy firms said that if their products were made in the US instead of China, their prices would be five times higher, making their products prohibitively expensive for many consumers. In cases where the US applies a 25 per cent tax on raw materials, toy businesses could go bankrupt or be forced to reduce the size of their workforce. Experts said rising costs in China because of the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies has led big US toy producers to seek other markets for production. Hasbro, the world’s leading toy manufacturer, plans to reduce the number of products made in China to 60 per cent by 2020, compared with 69 per cent in 2018 and 86 per cent in 2012. It plans to move some of its production to the US, … [Read more...] about US toy producers plan to move operations to Vietnam