Shares of the construction conglomerate Cotec Construction Joint Stock Company (Coteccons), coded CTD, have recovered strongly since early November, climbing by 14 per cent after two foreign management funds announced they would increase their holdings in the company.

CTD, traded on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, hit VND160,000 (US$7) per share on Monday. It has soared 35.5 per cent since 2018’s one-year low of VND118,120 per share.

Since late December 2018, Korea Investment Management Fund (KIM) has become a major shareholder of CTD after buying an additional 830,000 CTD shares to raise the ownership ratio of the fund in CTD from 4.95 per cent to 6 per cent, equivalent to 4.7 million shares.

Over the same period, investment and asset management company VinaCapital Group has also acquired an additional 108,000 CTD shares, lifting its stake holdings in Coteccons to 7 per cent.

Turumbayev Talgat, a member of Coteccons’s board of directors, has also registered to buy nearly 1.27 million shares of CTD via both put-through and order-matching methods.

From December 12, 2018 to January 10, 2019, Coteccons decided to buy back 3.8 million shares with a price of VND140,000 to VND180,000 per share. The plan received high consensus from all members of the company’s board of directors as it will benefit all parties and the company in the future.

Recently, the company has won contracts for many projects. It won contracts to work as the main contractor for two new projects of real estate giant Vingroup (VIC) with a total value of nearly VND7 trillion, including VinCity Sportia and Vincity Ocean Park projects in Ha Noi.

In December 2018, Coteccons also received five bidding packages worth up to VND11 trillion.

In October last year, CTD signed a contract to build factory project Timberland Manwah in the southern province of Binh Duong worth VND1.5 trillion and the headquarters project of Military-run telecommunications company Viettel Group.

Nguyen Sy Cong, general director of Coteccons, said that in the context that the construction industry faces difficulties and fierce competition, the company still achieved planned profit and revenue.

The company has set this year’s revenue and profit targets at the same level as 2018. In the first nine months of 2018, Coteccons earned net revenue of VND20.7 trillion, up by 14 per cent year-on-year and fulfilling 74 per cent of the whole year’s plan.

Post-tax profit reached VND1.2 trillion, approximately equal to the same period of 2017. — VNS