The shareholder meeting season is about to enter its peak. In the context of businesses facing many difficulties, the issue of dividend payment is one of the most concerned issues in this meeting season. In addition, due to the vibrant stock market, the issuance of additional shares to increase capital is expected to "heat up" the meeting season.
This year, the story of dividend payment is somewhat more heated due to the common difficulty that not all businesses have enough profit to pay generously, some businesses even delay, postpone, or cancel dividend payments.
One example is FECON Joint Stock Company (stock code: FCN), which plans to pay nearly VND79 billion in dividends in 2022, after a period of delay due to business operations and difficulties in balancing revenue and expenditure. However, it will not be until the end of this year that the company's shareholders will receive most of this amount. The company said it will not pay all at once but will divide it into two installments: 1% will be paid on March 29, 2024, and the remaining 4% is expected to be paid by December 2024.
The company's delay in paying dividends is related to its unfavorable business performance. Specifically, the progress of implementing a number of large projects since the beginning of 2023 has been slower than expected, affecting bidding, leading to a delay in signing contracts and low construction output. Along with that, interest expenses have increased and capital mobilization has been difficult. In fact, in 2023, the company's net revenue decreased by 5% compared to 2022 to nearly VND 2,880 billion. The company lost more than VND 32 billion, while the previous year it made a profit of nearly VND 40 billion.
Not only are dividends delayed, some businesses have also announced to postpone or even cancel dividend payments. A typical example is Binh Dinh Food Joint Stock Company (Bidifood, stock code: BLT). According to Bidifood, the cost of goods has increased dramatically by more than 50% since July 2023, with the average rice price being over VND15,500/kg. The company must maintain a circulating reserve of more than 3,000 tons of rice, worth more than VND46 billion, limiting capital sources and increasing interest expenses. In addition, the company must mobilize capital for basic construction investment activities of about VND40 billion in the two years 2023 - 2024.
To ensure a healthy financial situation, with capital for production and business activities and reinvestment, production restoration, after paying a 30% advance dividend, the Board of Directors submitted to shareholders for approval to stop paying the remaining dividend of 140.5% in cash.
For example, Southern Basic Chemicals Joint Stock Company (stock code: CSV) has announced to postpone the payment of 2023 cash dividends for the reason of efficient use of capital. The interim dividend payment for 2023 will be made at an appropriate time. At the same time, Binh Duong ACC Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company (stock code: ACC) has also approved the postponement of 2022 dividend payment because in 2023, the construction projects under implementation have not been completed and accepted as planned, leading to delays in debt collection.
Customers transact at TechcomBank . Illustration photo: Thanh Tan/VNA
While shareholders of many businesses are upset about the delay in dividend payments for many years, shareholders of the banking group are happy. Accordingly, banks are expected to pay dividends in 2023 and will approve at the 2024 general meeting such as: Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank, stock code: TCB) will pay dividends at a rate of 15% in cash, Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (stock code: MBB) is 20% in both cash and shares, Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (stock code: ACB ) is 10% in cash and 15% in shares; Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (stock code: VIB) pays a maximum of 12.5% in cash and 17% in shares, Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (stock code: VPB) pays cash dividends for 5 consecutive years, and is allowed to use 30% of its annual after-tax profit to pay dividends to shareholders.
Besides, some banks pay dividends to increase capital such as Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development (stock code: BID), Lien Viet Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (stock code: LPB)...
According to Ms. Do Hong Van, Head of Data Analysis Department, FiinGroup Vietnam Joint Stock Company, the banking industry in 2024 will still face many difficulties related to bad debt issues, causing great provisioning pressure; risks from the corporate bond market when the amount due in 2024 is about 300 trillion VND and the real estate market needs time to resolve legal problems.
However, the banking industry's outlook is still expected to improve as after-tax profit is forecast to increase by 12-15% compared to 3.5% in 2023, based on the recovery from credit growth in a low-interest rate environment, higher economic growth than the previous year, and improved net interest margin (NIM).
According to Ms. Khuat Thuy Quynh, Legal Director of SSI Securities Corporation, the demand for public securities offerings in 2024 is forecast to increase sharply compared to before thanks to the positive impact from the gradually recovering secondary market.
Ms. Quynh said that according to statistics from the State Securities Commission, capital mobilized through securities offerings has grown significantly, with a total mobilized value of VND 95,170 billion in 2023. Accordingly, the proportion of offerings to existing shareholders is not much, mainly concentrated in bonds offered to the public by the banking sector and some large enterprises.
The secondary market is vibrant, and offerings to existing shareholders are expected to increase sharply. The collapse caused by excessive dependence on bank loans and bonds is a lesson for businesses. Therefore, businesses pay more attention to increasing equity to reduce debt leverage.
From a management perspective, Ms. Ta Thanh Binh, Director of the Market Development Department of the State Securities Commission, said that the big point of this year's market is the goal of upgrading, so listed companies should not be left out of this "game".
During the 2024 shareholder meeting season, businesses can carry out work related to foreign ownership. Businesses can adjust their registered business lines, but need to be approved by the shareholder meeting. In addition, businesses also need to prepare in advance for the issue of information disclosure in English.
Currently, businesses need to periodically disclose information such as: Information on organizing shareholders' meetings, financial reports, corporate governance status, capital usage progress after offering... At the same time, focus on communicating with domestic and foreign shareholders, directly sharing and experiencing with investors.
According to Baotintuc.vn
Source
Comment (0)