Loc Troi cuts 1,100 employees, lacking 1,300 billion VND in working capital

(Dan Tri) - Once the pride of Vietnam's agricultural sector, Loc Troi's achievements have been shaken since 2024 by difficulties and scandals over debt for the Winter-Spring rice crop...

On August 23, Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company (stock code: LTG) held its 2025 annual general meeting of shareholders.

2025 plan to lose 524 billion VND, has cut 1,100 employees

The meeting minutes noted that Loc Troi planned to do business in 2025 with net revenue from sales and services reaching VND4,200 billion. The company expected an accounting loss before tax, interest and depreciation of VND524 billion.

This business plan was opposed by many shareholders and was not approved. Shareholders also questioned the management about restructuring financial resources.

Once the pride of Vietnam's agricultural sector, Loc Troi's achievements have been shaken since 2024 by mounting difficulties and the debt scandal over winter-spring rice crop debts of farmers in the Mekong Delta.

The climax was the incident where former General Director Nguyen Duy Thuan was asked by the corporation to be stopped by the authorities for "fraudulent behavior, causing loss of company assets".

Mr. Nguyen Duy Thuan - former General Director of Loc Troi.

In 2024, the group has not yet published its audited financial statements. Mr. Nguyen Tan Hoang - General Director - said that the group has worked with Ernst & Young about the lack of reports and there are two main issues.

Firstly, the banks have not agreed on the debt structure, so this will affect the reporting and affect the ability to operate continuously. Secondly, when the money is not collected when selling goods, the Group will take back the goods, which will create many procedures, so the auditor needs a lot of time to verify and check.

The Executive Board emphasized that it had a report and suggested that the Board of Directors consider changing to another auditing company to conduct the audit faster to reassure shareholders about financial transparency. Loc Troi said it was trying to have the financial report as soon as possible.

The board of directors also reported to shareholders on the restructuring situation to date. Notably, the company has cut its workforce from 2,600 to just over 1,500, a reduction of 1,100 people.

1,300 billion VND capital needed for restructuring

Regarding restructuring bank loans, Mr. Tran Khanh Du - representative of the enterprise restructuring board - shared Loc Troi's experience in the financial crisis in recent years.

According to Mr. Du, for many years, Loc Troi has only known how to do economics , business, and work with farmers, which was the prosperous period of the enterprise. When a financial event occurred, the enterprise fell into a passive state, because it had absolutely no experience in restructuring and financial handling.

Therefore, from mid-2024 to early 2025, the group is in a state of struggling with financial problems. Since April this year, the company has established a restructuring committee. Up to now, the restructuring committee has set a goal of negotiating with 12 banks and has currently contacted almost all of them to discuss restructuring implementation.

At the same time, the current restructuring requires working capital of about 1,300 billion VND, focusing on 3 banks: MB, TPBank and HDBank , currently reaching a plan with MB. With the remaining 2 banks, the group is implementing the tasks. The restructuring board sets a goal of completing the restructuring in December this year.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/loc-troi-cat-giam-1100-nhan-su-dang-thieu-1300-ty-dong-von-luu-dong-20250826110805011.htm