The chairman of agricultural firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company (HAG) has made another attempt to buy shares of the company after its share value plummeted.

Doan Nguyen Duc has registered to buy more than 15.2 million shares of the company on June 11 and July 9 after its share value dropped to the lowest level since its debut. This marks his second attempt to buy HAG shares, after his initial bid to purchase 20 million shares on May 8 and June 6 ended with the acquisition of only 4.8 million shares.

An insufficient financial arrangement resulted in the non-completion of the purchase, after which his ownership in HAG increased from 35.02 per cent to 35.53 per cent of its charter capital.

HAG share movements in one year. — Source: cafef.vn

HAG shares, which are traded on the HCM Stock Exchange, dropped to VND4,420 (US$0.19) per share on May 28, their lowest level since HAG’s debut in December 2008. The shares are trading at around VND4,600 per share this week.

In his last transaction at the end of 2017, Duc registered to sell 23 million HAG shares between October and November for use as collateral to support the company’s efforts to restructure loans. The price of HAG shares at the time stood at around VND7,000 to VND8,000 per share.

HAG’s short-term debt reached nearly VND12.4 trillion by the end of 2017, exceeding its short-term assets, which were over VND8.8 trillion at the time.

HAG reported better business results in the first quarter of 2018 with a total revenue of VND1.03 trillion, up 25 per cent year-on-year. Its net profit reached VND56.6 billion, up 3.5 times compared to the first quarter of 2017. — VNS