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The Astral City project by Phat Dat along National Road No.13 in Binh Duong city

At the 2021 annual general meeting of shareholders, Phat Dat approved the third dividend payment (the final dividend) of 2020 at the rate of 11.7 per cent in shares, resulting in a total of 3-time share dividends for 2020 at 28.7 per cent. This is a strong affirmation of the benefits the company offers from dividends for its shareholders and investors.

Dividends have been made regularly and continuously, bringing the total dividend ratio up to 53.7 per cent since 2019.

In 2020, Phat Dat made three share dividend payments to shareholders: 7 per cent, 10 per cent, and 11.7 per cent for the last payment expectedly made in the middle of the second quarter of 2021. Previously, tapping 2019’s profit, Phat Dat paid two dividends, including 12 per cent in cash and 13 per cent in shares.

Distributing 2020’s profit by stock dividends enables outstanding benefits to shareholders and investors, showing the Board of Directors and Board of Management’s great determination to promote the interests of the company’s investors and shareholders.

Comparison of the values of cash and stock dividends, assuming shareholders hold shares for a long term. Source: PDR

Thus, by way of share dividends, shareholders and investors will receive the following benefits:

First, compared to cash dividends, the total value of 2020’s share dividends (return on investment) would be over 7 times higher if the shareholder held shares during all three dividends to the end of May 2021 and 5.7 times higher if the shareholder sold shares right after the payment date. In this way, shareholders and investors can accumulate assets faster in the current context where the company made such strong growth and development.

As of April 6, 2021, Phat Dat’s shares price were valued at VND67,800. According to SSI’s assessments on investment and valuation, “SSI produces recommendations by applying RNAV [area navigation] method, and PDR’s RNAV is 4 per cent higher than the current share price. Presently, PDR is trading with 2021’s P/E and P/B of 12.4x and 3.8x, respectively.”

Simultaneously, PDR’s share price has increased by 138 per cent compared to 2019 and is expected to continue to grow in the coming time, providing even greater benefits to investors and shareholders.

Second, the average time shareholders receive additional shares is only 1 month (compared to the market average of at least 2-3 months) thanks to the company’s synchronous process to create favourable conditions crediting shares on investors’ accounts.

Finally, PDR’s liquidity on the market is considerably high, especially after PDR entered the VN30 basket.

Dividend payments from 2015 to 2020. Source: PDR

In 2015-2020, Phat Dat achieved a high growth rate in terms of business results, sustainable financial structure, and improved profitability, resulting in the net revenue increasing by 8.8 times (a compound annual growth rate [CAGR] of 54 per cent) and in the after-tax profit of the parent company’s shareholders increasing by 7.6 times (a CAGR of 50 per cent).

Therefore, the company possesses a stable cash flow to pay cash/share dividends to shareholders regularly at a rate of 20-30 per cent per year from the distribution of after-tax profit.

Thus, with the upcoming 11.7 per cent share dividend, PDR wishes to constantly increase benefits and surplus value for shareholders and investors in the future.

By Hieu Dang

Dầm Trầu Beach on Côn Đảo Island in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province. Photo bariavungtautourism.com.vn

HCM CITY — Dầm Trầu Beach on Côn Đảo Island in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province has been included on the list of the world’s 25 best beaches by US travel magazine Travel+Leisure .

Dầm Trầu Beach, located near the Côn Đảo airport at the edge of Côn Đảo National Park and about 4km from Côn Đảo centre, is one of the most attractive destinations on the island.

On their journey to explore the Côn Đảo Islands, tourists will be surprised by many small islands in the beautiful long coastal areas here.

With golden sand, soft swells and shady groves of bamboo and evergreen trees, it’s the kind of place to spend the day gently swinging in a hammock with a beach read and walking in the surf with a freshly hacked coconut, according to the site.

Travel+Leisure said that due to its location close to the airport, “commercial flights fly thrillingly close”, giving swimmers a chance to watch planes take off and land.

Other beaches included in the list were Clearwater Beach in the US, Saud Beach in the Philippines, Railay West in Thailand, and Elafonissi Beach in Greece. VNS

Saigon Newport Corporation and telecom company Viettel sign an agreement on Thursday (April 15) to promote the use of IT and develop logistics and other services. VNS Photo Thu Hằng

HCM CITY — The country’s largest container terminal operator, Saigon Newport Corporation, and military-owned telecom company Viettel on Thursday (April 15) signed an agreement to promote the use of IT and develop logistics and other services.

They will join hands to develop eco-system services for the port’s customers and partners.

Port Community System, a national single window for sea -port operation services, smart operation systems and a data warehouse will be developed.

They plan to speed up development of smart warehouses and logistics centres in key economic zones across the country.

Development of e-commerce infrastructure will also be a focus.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Senior Captain Ngô Minh Thuấn, general director of the port, said with the “comprehensive co-operation” Saigon Newport would underscore its leading position in maritime and port services.

It accounts for nearly 50 per cent of container export-import market, and ranks among the top 20 containers terminal globally.

Viettel has unveiled a mission of pioneering a digital society and its transition from a telecom services provider to a digital services provider.

It is among the world’s 500 most valuable brands according to the UK-based Brand Finance and valued at US$6.016 billion, up 3.4 per cent from last year. —VNS

Hundreds of big and small boats quietly are anchored at Lạch Hới fishing port in Thanh Hoá Province’’s Sầm Sơn City although the first months of the year was considered as the “golden season” for fishermen. Photo qdnd.vn

THANH HÓA — Central provinces are facing a shortage of workers for the fishing industry in both quality and quantity, posing challenges to the sector as many boat owners are forced to sell their vessels and change jobs.

With a coastline of 102km, Thanh Hóa Province has a long fishing history. However, offshore fishing fleets in the province are struggling while fewer locals are involved in fishing.

The hustle and bustle in the past is absent at Lạch Hới fishing port in Sầm Sơn City, where once large baskets full of freshly-caught seafood were transported ashore and then delivered elsewhere.

Now, hundreds of big and small boats are anchored at the port, even though the first months of the year are considered the “golden season” for fishermen.

Nguyễn Văn Tuyên, director of Lạch Hới fishing port, said the number of ships arriving and leaving the port has reduced significantly in recent years.

“Our port now operates at about 35 per cent of its capacity,” he said, lambasting economic restructuring which has pushed local workers away from fishing.

Phạm Gia Sơn, a shipowner, said his family has fished for many generations.

“We used to make 3-4 fishing trips a month and need 12-14 labourers for a trip but we have faced a lot of difficulties in the past two years due to the scarcity of workers,” he told Quân đội nhân dân (People’s Army) newspaper.

Sơn said some people with years of fishing experience have shifted to other jobs.

“Although we are fully prepared to sail offshore, our ship is docked for days because we can’t find enough workers,” Sơn said, adding that there were trips that only the shipowner and chief engineer are professional and the rest are seasonal labourers.

Echoing Sơn’s opinion, Nguyễn Văn Long, director of Ngọc Sơn Seafood Processing Co.Ltd, said hiring seamen has been tough in recent years.

His company has six large ships specialising in fishing logistic services. Each trip requires 12-15 workers but they could only employ 8-10 people.

Due to the lack of labourers, the company has to hire workers from other localities, even inexperienced people from mountainous districts such as Quan Sơn, Quan Hoá, and Mường Lát.

Nguyễn Đức Cường, head of Thanh Hóa Fisheries sub-department, said the worker shortage was affecting many coastal areas of the province.

He said unstable income and hard work were causing fishermen to seek other work.

A decline in fisheries resources, the shrinking size of traditional fishing grounds and low efficiency were also problems.

There are about 1,290 offshore fishing ships out of the 7,096 total working fishing ships in the province.

The number of boats fishing near the shore has become overwhelming compared to offshore fishing vessels and overfishing near the shore has depleted marine resources. Many marine species are showing signs of strong decline and are even facing the danger of extinction.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, storms and floods and extreme weather as well as the rising cost of gasoline and labourers have led to inactive fishing boats.

A similar situation has been reported in other central provinces including Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh and Quảng Bình.

The number of labourers engaged in fishing has decreased in Nghệ An Province in recent years. Worse still, there are few seamen aged between 18 and 35 and 30 per cent of the marine workforce is more than 60 years old.

Nguyễn Văn Ước from Quỳnh Long Commune in Quỳnh Lưu District said he had joined with seven households in the commune to build a fishing boat with an engine capacity of 717CV.

However, they had to sell the ship at the end of last year for VNĐ1.7 billion (US$73,557), less than a third of the initial cost, because there were not enough seamen to man the ship.

Selling the ship meant they had to find other jobs.

Bùi Xuân Trúc, deputy head of Quỳnh Lưu District’s Agriculture and Rural Development Office, attributed the decrease in marine labour to the unreasonable occupational structure, shortcomings in exploiting and preserving seafood products after harvesting and increasing competition between localities.

“This requires fishing activities to renovate themselves to keep up with the current trend,” he said.

Coping with the labour shortage, many boat owners in Quảng Bình Province’s Bố Trạch District had to retain workers by paying their salaries in advance.

Shipowner Nguyễn Ngọc Hải in Bố Trạch District said: “It is difficult to recruit enough workers who will accompany us. Thus, labourers will get paid in advance to entice them.”

However, some people did not work for them after receiving the salary, he said.

Long-term solutions

As the shortage of labour has harmed the livelihoods of fishermen and fisheries exploitation and processing, localities in the central region have adopted solutions to deal with the problems.

Cường, the head of Thanh Hóa Fisheries Sub-department, said the province has encouraged boat owners to use modern equipment in fisheries exploitation such as sonar fishfinders and promote mechanisation in the fishing and net collection stages to boost exploitation efficiency and reduce the number of employees on the fishing vessel.

“In the short term, we are suggesting localities to have support policies for fishermen to change their jobs to ease their concern over income and livelihood.

“Special attention should be paid to reducing the pressure on exploitation in coastal areas,” Cường said.

Lê Cẩm Long, head of Bố Trạch District Agriculture and Rural Development Subdepartment, said for the fisheries to develop sustainably as well as bring adequate income to people, local authorities were directing communes to restructure occupations accordingly and expand the fishing grounds to the Trường Sa area to catch more valuable fish while reducing the pressure of exploitation in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Trần Như Long, Deputy Director of Fisheries Sub-Department of Nghệ An, said in the long-term, it was necessary to take measures to regenerate resources in the direction of both exploitation and protection due to declining marine resources.

“Only when the aquatic resources are well regenerated and people enjoy exploitation and have better income, then people will engage with the sea again,” he said.

Lê Ngọc Linh, Director of the Fisheries Sub-Department of Quảng Bình, proposed the Government study practical and long-term policies such as banning sailing during the fish breeding season and providing fuel for fishermen.

More attention should be paid to dissemination work, calling on fishermen to increase labour productivity and get training on how to exploit marine resources effectively, he said. — VNS