Vietcombank will issue millions of shares to pay for last year’s dividends and raise its charter capital to over VND50.4 trillion (US$2.22 billion) under a plan recently approved by its board of directors.

The plan was adopted at Vietcombank's annual general shareholders’ meeting in April.

Accordingly, Vietcombank will issue more than one million shares to pay for last year’s dividends at a rate of 27.6 per cent of 2019’s retained earnings. The State-owned bank will also issue additional individual shares, worth 6.5 per cent of its total charter capital at maximum at the time of offering, to investors and existing shareholders.

The issuance of shares for dividend payouts will add over VND10.23 trillion to the bank’s charter capital while more than VND3 trillion is expected to be raised from issuing individual shares.

Previously, the government approved the State Bank of Viet Nam’s proposal to provide an additional VND7.65 trillion to maintain the State’s ownership ratio at Vietcombank, which now stands at 74.8 per cent.

Vietcombank is to increase total assets by 5 per cent, total outstanding loans by 10.5 per cent, and consolidated pre-tax profit by 11 per cent this year. The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio will be kept at under 1 per cent and dividends will be paid at 8 per cent. — VNS