Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi Port in Districts 4 and 7  is being relocated to Nha Be District under HCM City plan. — Photo cafef.vn

HA NOI((Biz Hub) — The Bank for Industry and Trade of Viet Nam (VietinBank) and Viet Nam Thinh Vuong Commercial Bank (VPBank), strategic investors of Sai Gon Port JSC, asked to sell their holdings in the port at the shareholders general meeting last week.

VietinBank and VPBank bought a 9.07 per cent stake and 7.44 per cent stake, respectively, when the port underwent equitisation last year.

Although the regulations applied to the purchase included restrictions on transferring the port's shares for at least five years, the buyers asked the board to permit sales in less than one year.

As of 2016, the port expects VND775 billion (US$34.7 million) in turnover and profit of VND50 billion. The target is much lower than last year's recorded revenue of more than VND1 trillion and profit of VND85.5 billion.

This year, according to the port, it must relocate Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi Port under the city's infrastructure plan by the end of December and must hand over part of the port by the middle of this month. Thus, all services at the parent ports as well as their five subsidiaries will be affected, resulting in reduced output, revenue and profits.

The port also said the Tan Thuan 1 and Tan Thuan 2 ports were restructured within the year, while construction work on Sai Gon-Hiep Phuoc Port was incomplete.

The port has been adjusted retroactively for after-tax profit calculations, with accumulated losses of more than VND1 trillion for 2015, as it failed to report losses of this amount from its associated companies, deepsea container terminal SP-PSA and SP-SSA International Terminal (SSIT), last year. As a result, the port owners' equity fell by almost half.

So, due to these difficulties, the board must lower the current annual target and will not pay a dividend, in accordance with last year's equitisation plan.

Also at the meeting, the port said it would sell its shares in Ngoc Vien Dong JSC, a subsidiary of real estate company Vingroup, which is developing the Vinhomes Khanh Hoi project. Previously, the port was asked to contribute more capital to keep its current stake of 26 per cent in the company when it raises the charter capital to VND5 trillion in the future.

Based in HCM City since 1860, the port has been a key transport hub for the country, connecting the city to the southern region, the Mekong Delta and the neighbouring country of Cambodia.

Sai Gon Port operates important ports in the southern part of Viet Nam, including the Nha Rong Khanh Hoi, Tan Thuan 1, Tan Thuan 2 and Phu My Steel ports. The port accounts for 10.5 per cent of the overall throughput in the South. Currently, the port has five subsidiaries offering logistics, commerce, transport and investment services in the city.

The board said it would concentrate this year on upgrading Tan Thuan 2 Port, establishing the Hiep Phuoc Service Zone in Nha Be District and co-operating with Khahomex Company to build an office building on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in the inner city.

On April 25, more than 21.6 million shares for the port (SGP) were listed on the unofficial market of UPCoM. To date, with registered capital of more than VND2.1 trillion, it is the fifth-largest firm in UPCoM. — VNS