Danny Le, chairman of the board of Masan Resources, speaks at the company’s annual general meeting on Monday. — Photo courtesy of Masan
Shareholders of Masan Resources (MSR) approved a number of proposals at its annual general meeting in HCM City on Monday, including a change in the company’s name to Masan High-Tech Materials as part of a strategy to go global and take its business to the next level and provide hi-tech and innovative solutions to global customers.
Danny Le, chairman of the board of Masan Resources, said last year the company’s net revenues were down 31 per cent to VND4.706 trillion (US$201.9 million) due to the challenging business environment.
Weakening global demand and a slowdown in global manufacturing, compounded by the trade war between China and US, resulted in a year of lower prices for all its commodities.
Average prices for the year for tungsten, fluorspar, copper, and bismuth were down 22 per cent, 3 per cent, 8 per cent, and 32 per cent.
But despite the difficulties, MSR maintained its throughput in the Nui Phao Mineral Processing facility at 3.78 million tonnes, down by just 2.8 per cent from 2018’s record throughput of 3.89 million tonnes.
MSR were able to offset some of the impact of the lower prices and volumes through focus on cost control, achieving a 12 per cent reduction in cash costs, equivalent to $14 million.
The acquisition of H.C Starck Group’s Tungsten Business, which will provide the company with advanced manufacturing centres in each of the key market geographies of the North American Free Trade Agreement, EU and the Asia Pacific and production sites in Germany, Canada and China.
The transaction was a strategic step in executing MSR’s vision to become a leading vertically-integrated high-tech industrial material platform in the world, Craig Richard Bradshaw, the company’s CEO, said.
This would enable MSR to generate strong and consistent cash flows across price cycles and expand its addressable market by 3.5 times from $1.3 billion to $4.6 billion, he added.
Based on its current business operations and financial position and a possible V-shaped recovery in global markets in the second half of 2020, MSR targets net sales of VND8-9 trillion ($343.6-386.5 million) and net attributable profits of VND200 -500 billion ($8.58-$21.45 million), representing a minimum increase of 70 per cent in sales and a reduction of 57 per cent or increase of 42 per cent in profits.
Le said the company has well developed business continuity plans that have been enacted and would underpin its ability to navigate this global crisis.
Shareholders also approved many other key proposals and reports, including the resignation of Nguyen Dang Quang from the board of directors, issuance of new shares and reports on the results of dividend payment to shareholders for 2019 in the form of shares at a rate of 10 per cent. — VNS