Sao Ta Food JSC raises and processes prawn and shrimp to sell to Japan, the US and Canada.(Photo: tinnhanhchungkhoan) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Sao Ta Food, (FMC), a subsidiary of Pan Group,plans to buy back two million treasury shares through order matching andnegotiation.
As of March 16, FMC shares closed at 19,800 VND (0.86 USD) on the Ho Chi Minh StockExchange, so the firm was expected to pay 39.6 billion VND for the shares.
According to the firm, the transaction time would be within 30 days after theday the State Securities Commission approved the share buyback.
At the beginning of February, before the pandemic was announced, the firmmentioned: “The Chinese market only plays a small proportion, so the impact isnot too large.”
As the pandemic has spread and affected many countries, the worst-case scenariofor seafood exporters including Sao Ta was visible.
Recently, FMC stock has plummeted to the bottom of more than one year. Comparedto the beginning of 2020, FMC shares have decreased by 28 percent.
Last year, Sao Ta Food's revenue decreased by 100 billion VND compared to 2018,to close at 3.7 trillion VND. Thanks to the sharp cut in cost, its profitbefore tax still reached 236 billion VND, exceeding 31 percent of the annualplan, profit after tax reached nearly 230 billion VND, an increase of 27 percentcompared to the profit achieved in 2018.
Based in the southern province of Soc Trang, Sao Ta engaged in farming andprocessing prawn and shrimp. Its products are mostly sold in Japan, the UnitedStates and Canada.
In 2018, Vietnamese agriculture and food company PAN Group JSC registered tobuy nearly 4.8 million shares of Sao Ta at 30,000 VND each to raise its holdingin the firm to 45 percent.
As per the latest data, PAN Group JSC and its members held 68.5 percent of thestake in Sao Ta./.
VNA
