Customers buying gasoline at a Petrolimex station in Phu Tho Province. Japanese leading energy group keeps strengthening its position in Petrolimex.— Photo petrolimex.com.vn

ENEOS Corporation has just registered to buy 25 million shares of Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex, PLX). The deal is conducted through order matching on the stock exchange between May 14 and June 22.

On the market, PLX shares, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), are in a bullish trend. The shares finished Thursday morning at VND53,900 per share. At this price, ENEOS Corporation will pay Petrolimex nearly VND1.35 trillion.

In the first quarter, Viet Nam’s largest petroleum retailer posted net revenue of over VND38.2 trillion, slightly down 0.6% against the same period of last year. However, the company’s gross profit reached 8.9 per cent due to fall in cost of goods sold. In the first quarter of 2020, this indicator was at 1.2 per cent.

By cutting cost price and gaining over VND29 billion in other revenues, Petrolimex recorded consolidated profit after tax of VND736.2 billion, while it lost over VND1.8 trillion in the same period last year.

In a report to investors, Petrolimex explained that as the COVID-19 pandemic was contained in the first quarter and international crude price increased by 20 per cent to US$59.16 a barrel, petroleum businesses raked in profits.

In 2021, Petrolimex set a target of VND135.2 trillion in revenue and VND3.36 trillion in profit before tax, up 9 per cent and 238 per cent, respectively.

Earlier, ENEOS Corporation bought 25 million PLX shares also by order matching on HoSE. The total ownership of ENEOS Corporation in Petrolimex is currently 38 million shares, equivalent to 2.94 per cent of charter capital.

In addition, Toshiya Nakahara, a senior executive at ENEOS Corporation, is a member of Petrolimex’s Board of Directors.

ENEOS Corporation is the biggest energy group in Japan, occupying 47 per cent of the market. — VNS