Sai Gon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) will advance shareholders a cash dividend of 15 per cent next month, the company has announced.

This is the first-phase payout of its plan for a total 35 per cent dividend rate for this year.

Sabeco is expected to spend over VND961 billion (US$41.2 million) on this payout, which will take place on October 31.

The ex-dividend date (the day which a stock trades without the upcoming dividend attached to the shares) is October 17.

The second dividend payout of another 20 per cent will be made in December.

In 2018, Sabeco targets a net profit of VND4 trillion, down 19 per cent from 2017. In the first six months of 2018, the brewer reported revenue of VND17.1 trillion, fulfilling 47.3 per cent of its plan.

Its after-tax profit reached VND2.45 trillion, equivalent to 61 per cent of the goal set for the whole year.

The company has recently shaken up its management personnel. Last week, it appointed Hoang Dao Hiep, 45, as the deputy general director in charge of marketing. It also appointed Tran Nguyen Trung as its new chief accountant.

Its shares, coded SAB on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, have lost 12.2 per cent this year, ending September 26 at VND218,900 ($9.40) a share, but were still the second most expensive on the securities market. — VNS