VietNam Holding Limited ("VNH" or the "Company")
Monthly Investor Report
A report detailing the activities of the Company for the month of September 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 Rise of the Retail Investor
Vietnam's economy was hit hard by strict lockdowns in September, with manufacturing falling significantly for the second month running and GDP Q3/2021 growth down -6.2% YoY. Foreign investors were selling throughout the month, nevertheless, leading stocks in the consumption sector performed strongly, with MWG, one of the Fund's largest holdings, posting impressive returns as the modern retail trend in Vietnam continues to strengthen despite the Delta variant's economic dents in Q3.
VNH was the top performing fund for the first nine months of 2021, beating the VN Index by 24% and outperforming its peers. Its NAV was up +3.3 for September with other top positive contributors DGW, HPG and VPB faring well. Both DGW (Digiworld), the country's leading ICT distributer, and HPG, Vietnam's top steel maker, continued to benefit from rising demand throughout the pandemic. VPB will receive proceeds from selling its stake in the finance company FE Credit and we expect it could become the biggest private bank in Vietnam in terms of capital given its senior management's long-term strategy.
It has been an extraordinary year for Vietnam's benchmark stock index, which having gained around 23% since the start of 2021 is this year's top-performing market in the Asia-Pacific region. As noted in the Fund's recent annual report, VNH's 15th anniversary this year coincided with an unprecedented escalation in domestic investor activity. To put this into more context, the market value of publicly traded companies in Vietnam is now close to USD 300bn, up from USD 2bn in 2006, when investment funds, such as VNH, commenced their activity. As a result, the stock market has created additional wealth and income for the many new domestic investors in the country, and longer-term investors, such as those who invest in VNH, have also seen compound average returns of more than 15% per annum over the last decade.
Also, as part of our rigorous market analysis, we recently commissioned an independent research firm to conduct a first of its kind survey on the sentiment and behaviour of the growing retail investment base in Vietnam, and the findings paint a more upbeat picture of what is to come in the last quarter of 2021 as vaccinations pick up pace and lockdown restrictions are gradually lifted. Carried out in the month of August, the survey captures the changing nature of Vietnam's retail investment market, namely how these investors have emerged as a decisive buying force by allocating their money in selective stocks more than in traditional assets, such as gold.
Since Covid-19 struck and working from home became the new norm, this investor base has grown to an estimated four million trading accounts, around 3% of the country's population, which is remarkably more than in the UK and similar to Taiwan's figure in 1986 when the market there went on to experience decades-long stock market surge. Of the survey's 425 respondents, 79% recorded strong gains in the past year and 59% said they feel optimistic about the market going up more than 5% in the final months of 2021 suggesting optimistic outlooks despite the Delta variant's paralysing effect on trade in the past two months.
Vietnam Holding published its annual report on 1st October (available on the VNH website) and has announced that the Annual General Meeting will be held 10.00 a.m. (UK) on Monday, 1 November 2021 at the offices of FIM Capital Limited, 55 Athol Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 1LA. The AGM will be followed by an Investor Update Webinar at 10.30 a.m which will be recorded. Registration for the webinar can be made at this link.
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
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.
