South Logistics Joint Stock Company (Sotrans) will cancel its listing on HCM Stock Exchange and move to the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) by the end of this year.

This was revealed at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in HCM City on Monday.

Since December 2017, two largest shareholders of Sotrans – Viet Nam Electrical Equipment Joint Stock Corporation and Indo Trans Logistics Corporation (ITL) – have increased their holdings to over 88 per cent of Sotrans’ charter capital.

As per the regulation of HCM Stock Exchange, Sotrans’ shares, traded with the code STG, are no longer eligible to be listed on the southern exchange because the total number of voting shares held by non-large shareholders fall below the required threshold of 20 per cent.

“We will terminate the listing after one year as per regulation, so around December this year, Sotrans will cancel the listing and transfer to UPCoM,” a representative of Sotrans said at the meeting.

ITL now has 28.4 million shares, equivalent to 33.28 per cent of Sotrans’ capital. The company wants to lift its ownership rate here.

Sotrans has submitted a plan to faciliate ITL’s share purchase to increase its holding here to a maximum of 43.2 per cent without having to make a public tender offer. The plan will be implemented after receiving shareholders’ approval.

Sotrans’ shares are being traded at some VND20,600 (US$0.90) per share on HCM Stock Exchange. ITL is expected to spend some VND176 billion for the planned purchase. Transactions will be carried out via order matching or put-through methods.

UPCoM is a minor stock exchange under the management of Ha Noi Stock Exchange with lower requirements for listing standards or information disclosure. With more listing of State-owned enterprises after equitisation, the market’s profile has risen significantly, with over 730 listed companies.

Paying stock dividend

Sotrans’ business improved last year with total sales of VND1.46 trillion, up by 115 per cent year-on-year, thanks to the launch of the Phu My warehouse project and development of a new agent system.

Its consolidated net profit reached VND521.3 trillion, 4.7 times higher than 2016.

The company has decided to pay dividends at the rate of 15 per cent in the form of stocks. It will finalise the shareholders list for the payout in May.

It has targeted a revenue growth of 12 per cent in 2018 to earn VND1.66 trillion, but the net profit is projected at just VND171.4 billion, down 67 per cent from 2017, due to the absence of large dividend earnings like in 2017. — VNS