VietNam Holding Limited ("VNH" or the "Company")
Monthly Investor Report
A report detailing the activities of the Company for the month of February 2021 has been issued by Dynam Capital Limited, the investment manager of the Company. Electronic copies of the report have been made available to shareholders on the Company's website and a summary of the report is included below.
The March of Time
Even with the week-long Tet holidays and a third wave of Covid-19 cases, Vietnam's economic momentum and social stability carried on during the month of February. Vietnam's road to recovery continues to stand out compared with other countries around the world: retail sales climbed by 8.2% YoY and manufacturing maintained a strong gain for the first two months of 2021; exports and imports rose 24.7% YoY and 26.4% YoY, respectively, according to Vietnam's General Statistics Office, with export growth making strides across all major markets, including the US, China, EU, ASEAN, Japan and South Korea. The government's effective containment of the latest Coronavirus outbreak was widely praised. Together with the encouraging news of the earlier than expected arrival of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccinations in Ho Chi Minh City, this has boosted confidence and helped Vietnam's benchmark equity index finish February with a MoM increase of 10.7%, its highest gain in nine months. Another trend gaining ground thanks to Vietnam's management of Covid-19 and cooperation for a common cause is the growing foreign investment in renewable energy sources - including hydropower, solar and wind. FDI disbursement in the first two months of 2021 has increased by 2% YoY; driving FX reserves to a record high. Public investment also increased to USD1.8bn, a 10.6% jump for the same two-month period.
The Fund's NAV per share increased by 11.1% during the month, outperforming the VNAS. As investors, we take our stewardship role seriously and actively select businesses that we are able to access and understand with respect to their environmental, social and governance practices. FPT, the fund's largest position, has grown impressively from a local Information Technology services company to an international end-to-end solutions provider, and runs a large and impactful educational business. The logistics sector is also a key part of Vietnam's industrialisation journey, and a key contributor for the Fund. Gemadept (GMD), a large and fast-growing port company in Vietnam, is up over 53% in the six months ending 28th of February 2021. The recent opening of its Gemalink deep see container project, the gateway to the South of Vietnam, will significantly help congestion at HCMC ports and meet the growing demand for cargo trading between Vietnam and other countries around the region and the world. The Fund continued to benefit from our overweight positions in selected banks, including: Vietin Bank (CTG), VP Bank (VPB) and MB Bank (MBB) where we see high growth potential for 2021 and beyond. Vietnam's young, entrepreneurial and digitally connected workforce is already enjoying a better life than their parents and they believe their children will prosper even more in a greener, more inclusive future. At the recent National Party Congress, the government emphasised how it will continue to carry out crucial internet infrastructure and pro-business initiatives in support of this ongoing digital transformation over the next five to ten years. All these factors lead to a surging demand for savings and investment products, so our selective bias in the banking sector should continue to be a major driver of performance. In addition, Vietnam's now more visible vaccination rollout plan which commenced recently, is likely to boost the hospitality and tourism sectors in coming months as the government opens borders to foreign travellers with proven vaccinations and the Ministry of Health successfully distributes the 150 million doses it has said will arrive by the end of 2021 or early 2022.
We are now one year on from when the World Health Organisation named COVID-19 a Global Pandemic: the world is still adjusting to life (and sadly death) as a result of the virus. 2021 has started strongly for Vietnam and the Fund's NAV and share price have touched all-time highs. At the end of February we hosted a webinar 'Vietnam: The Next Five Years', a recording is available on the Fund's website and also on our youtube channel.
For more information please contact:
Dynam Capital Limited
Craig Martin Tel: +84 28 3827 7590
info@dynamcapital.com |www.dynamcapital.com
finnCap
Corporate Broker and Financial Advisor Tel: +44 20 7220 0500
William Marle / Giles Rolls
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