ACV seeks to earn 4.83 million USD from divestment

 

 

Hanoi (VNA) - Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) is seeking to earn more than 108.6 billion VND (4.8 million USD) by selling nearly four million shares of Southern Airports Services Joint Stock Company (SASCO).

ACV currently holds 67 million shares of Sasco, equal to 51 percent of the airport services provider’s chartered capital. ACV plans to sell the four million shares between December 6 and January 4.

SASCO is listed under code SAS on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM). The company’s shares were up 2.2 percent on December 6 to close at 27,500 VND per share.

SASCO operates in the airport services business and holds the largest market share in supplying products and services at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Vietnam’s largest airport by the number of passengers.

In 2015, Tan Son Nhat International Airport received more than 26 million passengers, slightly higher than the airport’s registered capacity of 25 million passengers per year. In the first nine months of this year, the southern international airport received some 24 million passengers, an increase of 24 percent from the previous corresponding period.

SASCO’s main products and services include duty-free products, arts & crafts, local specialties and business lounges, as well as food and beverages, travel, transportation and advertising services.

Of these main business activities, selling duty-free products and renting business lounges generated the highest profits for SASCO, with total profit of 120 billion VND in 2015.

SASCO has the comparative advantage over competitors in the duty-free products sector as it is supported by strategic partner Imex Pan Pacific Group, which holds 80 percent market share in domestic high-end fashion.

In the first nine months of 2016, SASCO earned 1.54 trillion VND in revenue, a yearly increase of 4 percent, and 169 billion VND in profits, an increase of 12 percent year-on-year.

In the mid-term period, the expansion of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which is expected to be completed in 2018, will increase the airport’s passenger capacity by 60 percent to 40 million passengers per year. That will help SASCO improve its income and profits in the next three to five years.

SASCO will also have an opportunity to expand its market when it becomes the largest service provider at Long Thanh International Airport, which is scheduled to become operational in 2025.–VNA