HCM City vows to protect businesses targeted by rioters

Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Manh Ha on May 16 visited foreign enterprises hit hard by the recent anti-Chinese protests, vowing that authorities will provide them with all possible support to resume operations as soon as possible.

At a working session with five businesses in Binh Chieu industrial park, Ha was informed that the park is free from looting or arson thanks to the city’s timely response.

Business representatives expressed hope that relevant units will respond faster to any future contingency, possibly with the launch of a hotline.

Meanwhile in Linh Trung 2 industrial zone, Ha toured the Taiwanese-invested Freetrend company that was hardest-hit by the violence.

Its executives said their firm returned to work on May 16 after a two-day shutdown. All of the workers here want to have stable jobs and local assistance has emboldened them to resume operations, they said.

Ha assured them that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has directed cities and provinces to ensure the absolute safety for foreign investors, experts and workers and their assets.

A representative from the municipal Department of Public Security said a series of measures are fully in place to ensure social safety and order.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority, 65 out of the 71 firms based in Linh Trung 1 and two processing plants had restarted production by May 16.

The same day, over 1,000 workers in Bien Hoa 2 industrial zone in the southern province of Dong Nai learnt about the Party and State’s stance on safeguarding sea and island sovereignty at an educational campaign.

They were asked to condemn individuals and organisations that take advantage of the situation to sabotage national peace and unity.

At the same time, they must keep themselves alert and avoid joining crowds that intentionally upset the normal activities of enterprises and their staff.

Also on May 16, seven provincial delegations met with Chinese and Taiwanese businesses in the locality, and learnt that 90 percent of companies that halted working two days ago have resumed their activities.

Thai Gia Vinh, Deputy Director of the KMC company thanked the provincial authorities for their timely interference, saying that he hopes such events will not happen again.-

SBV confirms monetary and banking stability despite East Sea issue

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on May 16 released an announcement stating that, despite the complicated situation in the East Sea in recent days, monetary, foreign exchange and gold markets remain stable and the banking system continues to operate in a smooth and safe manner.

The SBV affirmed that this demonstrated a profound faith of the people in the proper guidelines of the Party and State, which serve to protect national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, along with maintaining security and an environment of peace and stability to develop the country; and to resolve disputes by peaceful means without resorting to threat or use of force and observe international law.

The SBV has been closely monitoring the situation, and stands ready to take all necessary measures to maintain monetary, foreign exchange, and gold markets, as well as to devise appropriate solutions to ensuring the security and safety of the credit institutions system, and branches of foreign banks operating in Vietnam.

The SBV also advised people not to listen to rumors, abetment and incitement of bad elements in order to avoid unfortunate economic losses for themselves and the society.

Calm, caution and confidence of the people in the leadership of the Party and State, as well as in the SBV's monetary policy management, will greatly contribute to the socio-economic stability of the country, said the SBV.

Changes to investment, enterprise laws discussed

It is necessary to make adjustments to existing laws in order to boost foreign investment.

Economic delegates made the assessment at a conference held in Hanoi on May 16, aiming to collect opinions on draft amendments to the Investment Law and Enterprise Law. They also put forth suggestions to heighten the effectiveness of foreign investment in Vietnam.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong said Vietnam faces challenges in wooing investors, competing with regional and global rivals and simplifying administrative formalities.

To improve the investment climate and State agencies’ capacity in managing foreign capital, participants agreed that attention should be placed on checking and evaluating barriers, especially those concerning investment procedures prescribed in the aforementioned two laws and other legal documents.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, Editor-in-Chief of the Vietnam Investment Review, said the enforcement of the investment and enterprise laws, both promulgated in 2005, exposed inadequacies and shortcomings.

Specifically, some articles of the two laws are not concrete and suitable with reality, while several regulations do not match international norms or the country’s commitments to its integration into the global economy, noted Tuan.

Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management Nguyen Dinh Cung said it is vital to restrict the withdrawal of business permits, adding that relevant agencies should only revoke the permits when necessary.

Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) Nguyen Mai said that various difficulties in managing foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises will emerge if regulations on the establishment of such firms, especially those related to fields of business and minimum capital, are not specified.

According to statistics released by the ministry’s Foreign Investment Agency, Vietnam lured 390 FDI projects with a combined registered capital of US$3.2 billion in the first four months of this year. The total capital disbursement of FDI projects in the reviewed period reached US$4 billion, up 6.7% year-on-year.

CT Group launches dragon fruit orchard in Australia

Vietnamese CT Group plans to create Australia's largest commercial dragon fruit orchard, with the first farm to take shape in the Northern Territory (NT) this year.

CT signed an agreement with the Northern Territory Government on May 9, paving the way for its plan to grow 10,000ha of dragon fruits in the NT.

Company president Tran Kim Chung said Northern Australia has ideal growing conditions for dragon fruits and the company is pouring an investment of US$100 million in the project.

Northern Territory Minister for Mines and Energy, Hon Willem Westra van Holthe, said the project is expected to provide jobs for an estimated 500 labourers. It will bring about economic benefits for both sides, he added.

Unlike small farms CT is developing in Vietnam, it plans large scale commercial farms to support supply chains, and the NT is a superb place for them to carry out the project.

The company aims to become one of the world’s largest exporters of dragon fruits.

Vietnam needs policy change to better access ODA

Vietnam needs to change its policies on official development assistance (ODA) attraction and use in order to better attract this source of capital in the future.

In a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that as Vietnam is a middle-income country, development partners will gradually cut down ODA and increase lending conditions for the country.

Therefore, between now and 2018, Vietnam should quickly disburse its remaining ODA sources for development while focusing on removing all difficulties and shortcomings in implementing ODA projects, he said.

“We also need to well prepare for the next stage when we will receive less preferential ODA,” he noted.

It is necessary to renew lists of projects to make them suitable to new ODA sources as well as closely control the disbursement to ensure the effective use of this capital, he said, adding Vietnam should both ensure the transparency and feasibility of projects and meet donors’ requirements.

“It’s time for the country to come to the negotiating table with donors to discuss the best ways to lure and use the new source of capital,” Dung stressed.

According to the Deputy Minister, over the past time, his ministry has closely coordinated with donors in reviewing the implementation of projects and programmes as well as restructuring those making slow progress.

The ministry has also instructed agencies at all levels to inspect investment areas in order to avoid losses, waste and other negative phenomena in the use of State investment, including ODA and preferential loans from donors.-

Measures sought to improve production technology

With an increasingly competitive business environment, enterprises have to improve their technological capabilities to increase business efficiency and labour productivity, the Vietnam Economic News reported on May 15.

According to the newspaper, to help technological enterprises do the job, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has actively carried out a range of practical activities to boost the development of scientific and technological market.

Under the impacts of macroeconomic conditions, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) enterprises still showed superior capability to the domestic enterprises. They still maintained business efficiency, expanded scales in terms of labour and sources of capital and increased sale revenues and market shares.

One of the secrets to success of FDI enterprises was their regular technological innovations and changes of product designs. Statistics of the MOST showed that since 2007, there have been 217 technology transfer contracts from FDI projects out of total 254 contracts certified by the MOST. In addition, only 30 percent of the domestic enterprises considered to have relatively advanced equipment.

This demanded the domestic enterprises to innovate and master technologies soon if they want to compete with FDI enterprises and foreign enterprises in general. Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology Phan Minh Tan said production technology is the root of development.

The production technologíe if being not advanced will reduce competitiveness due to higher production costs, cause environmental pollution and damages to their brands, which will be harmful to the enterprises if they want to expand to larger markets worldwide.

A recent survey on more than 650 domestic enterprises conducted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) showed that the costs of technological research, applications and transfers are on the increase. On average, each enterprise now spends about 24 billion VND on technological research and transfers, 10 times higher than the figure in 2007.

General Director of Mechanization Electrification Construction Corporation - Joint Stock Company Le Van An said in the current market-oriented economy with fierce competition, if domestic enterprises want to exist and grow, they have to do well two jobs: choosing product lines which have large demand and mastering technologies to create the products with the best quality and most competitive prices possible.

Director of Thuan Hoa Co, Ltd Tran Thi Thuan Hoa also said the company always regards scientific and technological applications as momentum to improve production efficiency and promote development. It invested 25 billion VND to build closed modern breeding facilities which ensure environmental requirements. Here, the animal droppings are used to make gas for cooking, keeping warm and generating electricity to serve production. “Investment in science and technology always makes profit, the company earns an average revenue of 60 billion VND a year,” she said.

Many economic experts evaluated that Vietnam’s technology market is now at a low development level. Supplies of the Vietnam’s technologies remain poor and the number and quality of technological transactions are limited and the technology transfer network is undeveloped. In other words, enterprises that are in need of technological innovation but they do not know where to buy the technologies they need along with other related procedures.

Before this circumstance, the MOST has actively implemented practical activities to boost the scientific and technological market such as organizing technology and equipment trade fairs, technology exchanges and tech-marts, bringing high efficiency. For example, the Techmart Dak Nong 2013 attracted 225 domestic and international companies introducing 1,500 technologies and products and signing 1,337 sales contracts worth of more than 156 billion VND.

From the success of the connecting technology supply-demand activities in 2013 in the Red Delta and Mekong Delta regions, the MOST has conducted surveys and found out that the demand for technologies are quite large with over 1,000 enterprises and organizations. The surveys also determined 300 supplies of domestic and foreign technologies ready for transfers.

However, to heat up the technology market, the state should create incentive mechanisms and policies, especially in terms of financial assistance as most Vietnamese enterprises are small and medium-sized ones, of those many lack capital to undertake comprehensive investment in production lines and resulted in slow technological innovation.-

The government has issued a decree on multilevel marketing with stricter regulations in a move to better manage the business model.

Under the Decree No 42/2014/ND-CP, which will take effect from July 1, multilevel marketing firms must have a charter capital of at least VND10 billion (US$454,545).

The firms are also required to have a collateral of VND5 billion ($227,272) in banks. The collateral will be used to pay the financial obligations of the firms in case the firms have to close down.

The new regulation also bans multilevel marketing firms from direct selling as pyramid schemes besides banning the firms from requiring people to pay any money or buy the firms' unauthorised goods to participate in the firms' business.

Multilevel marketing sales people are also not allowed to provide wrong or dubious information to cheat people.

According to the new decree, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will take responsibility of granting the business licences for multilevel marketing firms, instead of municipal and provincial departments of Industry and Trade as was done previously.

Licensed multilevel marketing firms that have no operations or have stopped operations for 12 consecutive months will have their business licences revoked.

According to the MoIT, after 10 years of presence in Viet Nam, the multilevel marketing businesses have attracted approximately 1 million participants by the end of 2013. There are approximately 90 multilevel marketing firms in the country, which are local, joint ventures and foreign-owned. A majority of the firms were producers and traders of food, cosmetics and house wear.

The multilevel marketing business model is familiar in other countries; however, it is a relatively new business in Viet Nam. Many multilevel marketing firms including MB24, Tam Mat Troi and Cong Dong Viet have used the business model for scamming and manipulating consumers.

Study: firms need to adapt to more mobile workforce

Many companies needed to re-analyse their information technology (IT) policies because of business demands and a more mobile workforce, said the VMware MeConomy 2014 study.

The VMware Inc, the global leader in virtualisation and cloud infrastructure which organised the study, said the results revealed that in Viet Nam 97 per cent of the surveyed working adults moved from place to place while working and have worked outside the office.

Over 80 per cent of them believed that they could stay efficient while working outside the office for at least 50 per cent of the time.

This reflects a new reality where more employees are demanding a chance to work away from the office, at any time and on any device.

"As we look around the industry, the mobile is changing the way we work and businesses need to evolve immediately. Companies will face a challenging time in this new mobile cloud era, where the business expectations of IT accelerates exponentially with the increase in new mobile consumers in the workforce, millions of new applications and services despite a stagnant IT budget," said Huynh Phuc Yem Quan, Country Manager, VMware Viet Nam.

With multiple access points such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, mobile workers are putting pressure on IT departments to deliver a high level of service and access without compromise.

Employees surveyed in Viet Nam said they expected their company to support a mobile workforce by enabling access to applications they need on their own devices (73 per cent), allowing use of personal devices for work (67 per cent) and providing a comprehensive and acceptable flexi-working policy (62 per cent).

For IT support, they were eager to have guidelines to access the corporate IT systems by using personal devices (66 per cent); faster network access (62 per cent) and equipment which work; quick and real-time response to their IT request; and advocate a more positive attitude and support towards mobile workers (52 per cent).

To help IT support mobile workers better, VMware recently announced VMware Horizon 6, an updated portfolio of end-user computing solutions designed to further simplify the use and management of virtual desktops and applications through a single platform.

The MeConomy study was conducted by Acorn Marketing and Research Consultants. Approximately 2,455 people between the ages of 18 and 64 participated in the survey. All respondents work in organisations having more than 1,000 staff globally and work for least 15 hours per week. The survey covered 14 markets across Japan and the Asia-Pacific, comprising Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Viet Nam.

UOB ready to acquire GP Bank

Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB) is close to sealing a deal to buy 100 per cent stake in the Vietnamese small-lender GP Bank.

Newswire Baodautu.vn reported this, quoting a board member of the National Monetary Policy Consulting Committee who spoke about the deal.

While the price tag of the deal is yet to be disclosed, industry experts said that the amount was probably not a large one.

"GP Bank is one of the nine weak banks which once ran an estimated bad debt higher than their charter capital. Buying the bank means taking over a large amount of debt; they would never pay a large amount," an expert told Baodautu.vn.

GP Bank was developed from the Ninh Binh Rural Commercial Joint Stock Bank to become an urban commercial joint stock bank. It has been operating in Ha Noi since November 7, 2005. One of nine ailing banks which were forced by the central bank to restructure, GP Bank has a head office and nearly 80 branches and transaction sites nationwide, together with a workforce of more than 1,400.

The deal will be completed if it gets the Prime Minister's approval.

The Decree issued on January 3, 2014 by the government said that in special cases of restructuring weak credit institutions and to ensure the safety of the banking system, the prime minister will decide the foreign ownership in a local bank. The total stake of foreign investors could exceed the 20 per cent limit for strategic investors or 30 per cent of the total room for foreign investors in each specific case.

"Banks which have no choice but to do mergers and acquisitions normally fail to secure equity and manage debts. Therefore, they have to accept capital losses," independent expert Nguyen Chi Hieu said.

Hieu suggested that leaders of weak banks which are on the brink of getting involved with mergers and acquisitions should understand their own situations in order to decide the right price for investors, or they won't be able to attract investors with a huge amount of debts.

Firms sign contracts at exposition

Eighteen contracts, worth VND70 billion (US$3.33 million), were signed at an exposition, which closed its door in northern Bac Giang Province on Thursday.

TechDemo 2014 welcomed the participation of 70 domestic and foreign units operating in machinery and automation; agro-forestry-fishery processing; biological and chemical technologies; and pharmaceuticals.

Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan described the two-day event as a good opportunity for the participating units to update knowledge on cutting-edge technologies and equipment, foster technological transfer and application as well as introduce their technologies to domestic and international visitors.

During the event, businesses also engaged in seminars, in which they shared views on current technological supply and demand in the northern region.

They also exchanged experience in transferring and receiving technological research outcomes while proposing solutions for obstacles hindering the process.

The event was co-organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Bac Giang provincial People's Committee.

The previous event, TechDemo 2013 in Thai Binh, witnessed 16 contracts worth over VND147 billion ($7 million) signed between the participating units.

Petrol traders can use stabilisation funds

Fuel wholesalers could use up to VND200 for each litre of petroleum and VND180-160 for every litre of diesel and oil respectively from the price stabilisation fund to cover their losses and keep the current retail prices unchanged.

This is a decision of the Ministry of Finance given in Dispatch 6384/BTC-QLG on fuel price management announced on Thursday.

Head of the ministry's Price Management Department Nguyen Anh Tuan said the world petrol prices have seen complicated changes in the past few days. Fuel traders have reported losses of VND215 per litre of gasoline, VND189 per litre of diesel and VND167 per litre of oil.

This has been the second time this month the ministry asked petroleum wholesalers to maintain retail prices stable.

In the beginning of last month, the ministry asked the traders reduced retail selling prices of diesel, oil and mazut while keep the petroleum prices unchanged.

On March 19th, domestic prices of retail petrol were raised by VND180 per litre, bringing the price per litre of RON 92 to VND24,690 and the price of RON 95 to VND25,190.

Diesel prices were increased by VND70 per litre, with 0.05S diesel priced at VND22,840.

Petrol re-exports allowed

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has allowed to continue implementing a pilot mechanism of temporary imports and re-exports of oil and petrol to Laos.

The pilot programme would be ended by the end of 2015.

The temporary import for re-export of petrol from Dung Quat Oil Refinery Plant to Laos aimed to reduce transport costs because the country was far from sea ports.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade in November 2013 proposed to continue apply the mechanism after finishing the first phase of the pilot in 2012.

The Government assigned the Viet Nam National Petroleum Group and Petrovietnam Oil (PV Oil) to implement the temporary imports for re-exports from June to December 2012.

According to reports from PV Oil, the total of temporary imports in the period was 24,482 tonnes worth US$23.56 million while the total of re-export was 6,212 tonnes worth $6 million.

Masan Group sees profits jump

Masan Group, listed on the HCM City Stock Exchange as MSN, posted an aggregated profit of VND1.082 trillion, or US$51.5 million, in the first quarter of this year.

This is double the profit made in the same period last year.

According to the company's Q1 earnings, Masan had a turnover of VND2.715 trillion, or $129.2 million, a 77 per cent increase of nearly VND1.2 trillion, or $57 million, year over year.

The turnover mainly came from Masan Consumer which contributed VND2.275 trillion, or $108.3 million, a 48 per cent increase due to the growth in sales of instant food, spices and beverages.

Masan Consumer, a major member of the group, earned a net profit of VND492 billion, or $23.4 million, in Q1, nearly twice as high of the profit made during 2013's first quarter.

Nui Phao Mine, in which Masan Group has invested millions of dollars, started to generate revenue from the beginning of March. This was expected to help Masan stay on track to exceed $1 billion in earning revenue this year.

In Q1 this year, Nui Phao Mine brought Masan a turnover of VND440 billion, or 20.9 million.

Notably, Masan's report showed that the company's EBITDA (an indicator of financial performance which tracks earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) posted strong growth in the quarter, rising by 339 per cent to reach VND385 billion, or $18.3 million.

Masan Group is one of the largest private companies in Viet Nam operating in consumption and resources sectors, with a market capitalisation of more than 72 trillion, or $3.5 billion.

As of the end of March, Masan had assets worth VND14.8 trillion, or $704.7 million, and VND7.242 trillion, or $344.8 million, in cash in its balance sheet.

The shares of Masan were traded at VND91,500, or $4.34, a share yesterday.

Commercial banks raise US dollar rate

Most of the commercial banks raised the US dollar exchange rate rapidly yesterday, while the gold prices stayed flat after reaching a one-month high recently.

While the State Bank of Viet Nam kept its exchange rate of VND21,036 for US$1 unchanged, as it has during the last 10 months, the commercial banks kept raising the dollar's selling value between VND40 and VND50 and the buying value between VND20 and VND30 yesterday morning.

At 11am, Vietcombank added another VND50 to each dollar's selling rate, raising it to VND21,175 and was buying it for VND21,120, which was VND25 higher than Thursday's rate.

The rates in the other commercials banks were also increased. The selling and buying rates were VND21,120 and VND21,170 respectively, in the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam; and VND21,130 and VND21,180 respectively in VietinBank and Asia Commercial Bank.

According to the central bank, commercial banks were allowed to apply an effective exchange rate +/-1% from the official exchange rate set by the central bank. Accordingly, the ceiling price for a dollar yesterday was VND21,246.

In the open market, traders added more than VND100 for each dollar compared to May 15. At the most popular forex spot in Ha Noi, the Quoc Trinh Jewellery Company in Ha Trung Street listed each US dollar at VND21,300 to VND21,340.

On Thursday, one tael of the State-owned SJC gold was selling for VND36.55 million, or $1,740, at the Saigon Jewellery Company. The rate was the same as the day before.

The gold trading floor Kitco.com put the gold price at $1,296.9 per ounce or $1,562 per tael. Thus, each tael of gold in Viet Nam was $178 higher than in the world market.

Bulldozers get rolling on roads in Ha Noi

Viet Nam's Bitexco group on Thursday officially began construction of a road in the southwest of the capital city under a build and transfer (BT) arrangement.

The road will stretch from Dai Kim ward, Hoang Mai District to La Phuc ward of Ha Dong District. The project is expected to be completed within 36 months with a total investment of VND1.47 trillion (US$71 million).

Bitexco got the greenlight to invest in the project in October last year and officially signed the contract to develop the project in the BT method last month.

VietJet offers huge promotion for new route

VietJet is providing huge promotion for its new international route from HCM City to Singapore with flight tickets selling from VND0.

The super cheap tickets will be available from today till Tuesday next week for flights operating between May 23 and December 31 (excluding public holidays in Viet Nam).

The airline's new route was officially launched on May 23, with seven flights per week.

SCIC to buy one million FPT shares

The SCIC Investment Company Limited announced on Tuesday that it would buy one million shares of the information technology firm FPT between May 19 and June 17.

The company is an affiliate of the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), and if the transaction is successful, it will hold 0.36 per cent of all FPT shares in circulation.

SCIC holds nearly 20.8 million FPT shares, or 6.05 per cent of the firm's total equity. It will divest from FPT by 2015, following a restructuring programme adopted by the Government late last year.

FPT share prices have fallen by about 30 per cent since the beginning of April, down from about VND54,000, or US$2.57, to VND41,500, or $1.98, per share on the HCM City Stock Exchange. Liquidity was significant with around a million shares changing hands per day.

SCIC Investment chairman Le Song Lai is the SCIC deputy general director and a member of the FPT management board.

Quang Ninh Port Company to launch IPO

The Quang Ninh Port Company plans to launch its initial public offering (IPO) at the Ha Noi Stock Exchange on May 23.

More than 11.3 million shares will be sold in the IPO, accounting for 22.62 per cent of the company's registered capital, at an initial price of VND11,000, or US$0.52, per share.

The company was established in 1977 and has been under the ownership of the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) since 2007.

The company's main activities include the loading and unloading of cargo, renting out of quays and wharves and supplying warehouse and pilotage services.

Between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of the company's revenue comes from the loading and unloading of cargo service.

The port, located in the Ha Long Bay area, can handle vessels with a capacity of up to 75,000 tonnes.

The company has registered capital of nearly VND500.5 billion, or $28.8 million, of which the State owns 75 per cent.

Contest for digital start-ups held in HCM City

The Viet Nam Digital Challenge competition was launched on May 15 in HCM City to unearth innovative talents, connect digital marketers, creative groups, and tech communities, and help resolve digital marketing issues by combining technical solutions and creative ideas.

Organised by Emerald Consulting Ltd and Startup.vn, the competition is open to everyone working in information technology, marketing, and creative fields.

The contest will be a 54-hour event where contestants come together to share ideas, form teams, and develop ideas and business plans.

It will be held on May 31-June 1.

FPT IS provides core banking system for SBV

Viet Nam's FPT IS has provided a core banking system for State Bank of Viet Nam on Thursday, which is part of the contract on the packages SG 3.1 on core banking and accounting applications.

The package is part of a project to modernise the State Bank funded by the World Bank, with a total investment of US$71.83 million.

The package is carried out by international bidding process worth nearly $9 million.

Central city hosts Hackathon competition

As many as 60 information technology students from Da Nang and Hue will compete in the central region Mobile Hackathon 2014 competition at Duy Tan Private University in central city today and tomorrow.

The competition, which is orgnised by Microsoft, has been held in Ha Noi, HCM City and Da Nang with the participation of nearly 300 students.

Competitors will challenge in 48 hours to build up an application on mobile phones in group working.The best software, which will be sent to Microsoft, would be awarded a cash prize of US$10,000.

Hi-Tech Park's research centre uses nanotechnology

The Saigon Hi-Tech Park's research and development centre is working with Moria Phuong Vy Ltd Company to make cosmetics using gold nanoparticles developed by the centre.

As partners, Moria Phuong Vy Ltd Co. has invested in a production line, while the centre assists in the application of nanotechnology.

The company plans to buy all the products made during the project prior to opening a cosmetics company with the research centre.

Thai Thi Tu Phuong, director of Moria Phuong Vy Co., said the testing of gold nanoparticles had shown good results in production, and the centre was continuing to improve the technology to produce even better cosmetics in the future.

This is the first time that such technology has been used in the country.

Seagate announces Kinetic Open Storage platform

Seagate Technology plc has announced that it will expand the open source program associated with its Seagate Kinetic Open Storage platform to include application programming interface (API) and libraries.

By expanding the platform's open source initiatives, the company has taken the next significant step in fully enabling software and hardware partners to leverage the new key or value programing interface and integrate it into cloud software stacks, additional devices and new systems.

Following up on contributions to interface specifications contributed to Open Compute Project earlier this year, Seagate is opening the platform's API, libraries and simulator technologies and enabling the OpenStack community to design, test and deliver applications and system designs built on Seagate Kinetic technology.

Vinatex to sell 24% stake to strategic investors

Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) will sell 24% of its chartered capital to strategic investors as part of its equitization plan approved by the Prime Minister.

According to the plan, Vinatex has chartered capital of VND5 trillion equivalent to 500 million shares and 24% of the chartered capital, or 120 million shares will be reserved for strategic investors. The company plans nearly 122 million shares (24.4%) for an initial public offering (IPO).

The Prime Minister has ordered the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which represent the State stake at Vinatex, to decide the share prices and the stock exchange for the IPO and criteria for selecting strategic investors.

Vinatex chairman Vu Duc Giang told the Daily that the group was in talks with some foreign investors in order to select the right partners. The selected investors must operate in the same sector, be good in corporate governance and the markets, offer flexible and proper financial solutions for the group among others.

After the IPO, the State will hold 255 million shares or 51%) of Vinatex and the ministry will be allowed to sell more shares to reduce its ownership at the group to below 51% if market conditions are favorable.

After equitization, Vinatex will continue enjoying some policy incentives such as taking loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for restructuring as well as mapping out financial mechanisms for research and training institutes in support of the textile-garment sector.

Besides, Vinatex will be subject to the incentives outlined in the programs for cotton plant and the textile-garment development for the nation.

Vinatex chairman Vu Duc Giang told the Daily that after equitization, Vinatex would use loans of the ADB and local commercial banks for core-business projects linked to forming an A-to-Z production chain, textile and dying projects and expansion of Vinatex Mart retail chain. More than VND5 trillion will be needed for 2015-2020.

In addition to production expansion, Vinatex will invest heavily in technological updates at its subsidiaries.

Last year, Vinatex’s revenue grew by 12% year-on-year to nearly VND45.6 trillion, with domestic contribution making up VND22.5 trillion (up 15%). The group targets annual growth of at least 12% this year compared to the previous year.

Thaco looks to top spot in domestic auto market

Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco) has unveiled this year’s ambitious goal of leading the country’s automobiles market in terms of sales volume, a position which Toyota Vietnam has long held over the years.

Leaders of Thaco said at an annual shareholders meeting last week that to realize the target, the corporation managed to sell 35,160 units this year, or 33% market share.

Thaco set the target based on its positive business results in the first four months of this year, in which it sold 10,800 units and surpassed Toyota Vietnam to lead the market. Thaco was already the best auto sales performer in the market from February till April.

At the meeting, shareholders of Thaco passed a plan to increase the company’s investment for this year by 72% over last year, with VND604 billion (more than US$28.6 million) going to the company’s production lines, double that of last year.

Thaco will invest the money in its workshop and assembly facilities for new car models such as New Carens 2014, Mazda 6, Mazda 3 All New and Peugeot 3008; and production of plastic parts for vehicles among others.

The local carmaker plans to spend an additional VND478.5 billion (nearly US$22.7 million) developing its retail network with three new dealerships and 28 showrooms to reach a total of 146.

As for business targets this year, Thaco aims for revenue of VND19 trillion, up 29% from a year ago, after-tax profit of VND1.85 trillion, up 62% over last year, and tax payments of VND5.7 trillion, up 58%.

In the first quarter of this year, the corporation netted revenue of VND4.25 trillion and after-tax profit of VND502 billion.

Last year, Thaco sold around 28,300 units and earned sales of VND13.3 trillion, year-on-year increases of 14% in volume and 28% in revenue. Its profit rose by 4.7 times to VND1.14 trillion.

The automaker now owns 45% of chartered capital of Dai Quang Minh Real Estate Investment JSC, the investor of four build-transfer (BT) streets and a low-rise condo building south of Mai Chi Tho Street in Thu Thiem New Urban Area in HCMC’s District 2.

Last year, Thaco asked for the Ministry of Finance’s approval to extend the deadline for paying some VND1.214 trillion in tariffs for its part imports from July 1, 2013 to June 30 this year. But, after its engine factory project was revised, the corporation early this year asked the ministry to halt the extension and the corporation has spent the VND576 billion in tax payment delay until January this year on supporting industry facilities.

Ford posts strong sales growth

Ford Vietnam has announced its best-ever performance for April when its retail sales jumped 37% year-over-year to 939 units and its market share inched up 0.5% from a year ago to 8.3%.

Jesus Metelo Arias, managing director of Ford Vietnam, said in a statement that strong customer responses to Ford vehicles helped the company achieved good monthly sales.

The company posted the highest-ever monthly sales of Ranger and Transit nameplates, both of which continue to lead their respective segments in Vietnam, and a pickup in demand for Fiesta and Everest cars.

Ranger pickup sales soared 258% last month from a year ago to a monthly record of 351 units and the demand for all variants has helped boost revenue of the Ranger up 176% to 1,040 units this year.

The Ford Transit experienced an April sales jump of 133% to its own monthly record of 297 units. Year-to-date sales of the commercial van have increased 135% to 1,089 units.

Last month, sales of the sporty Ford Fiesta rose 29% year-over-year to 106 units, bringing the year-to-date figure to 408 units and sales up more than 35%.

The Ford Everest family SUV also supported the company’s performance in April with sales of 127 units, driving its year-to-date sales up more than 24% to 544 units.

Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR