Bamboo Airways looking for captains and flight attendants

Bamboo Airways is seeking to recruit 50 captains and 150 flight attendants.

An airline representative said that the standard for flight attendants is 20-30 years old, with the height for men being between 170 and 180 cm and between 160 and 175 cm for women. Flight attendants with experience standing 158 cm will be considered.

As far as education is concerned, Bamboo Airways requires its flight attendants to have graduated from at least a trade school and have a TOEIC score of 500 or an equivalent English-language certification.

The standard for captains is 22-32 years old with at least 1,000 flight hours or two years of experience as a flight attendant or one year as a captain. They must have a TOEIC score of 550 or more or an equivalent English-language certification.

Like other airlines, the general standard for flight attendants is good health, an outgoing personality, and a neat appearance.

Bamboo Airways is moving quickly to enter the aviation market. Shortly after signing a purchase agreement it announced plans to employ up to 600 personnel in various locations, including 93 pilots and 250 flight attendants.

The FLC Group, the owner of Bamboo Airways, has also agreed to upgrade Dong Hoi Airport in central Quang Binh province into an international airport and meet Bamboo Airways’ strategy, which focuses on niche markets, including direct flights from international and domestic to the emerging tourist destinations of Vietnam, mainly where FLC has resorts.

In the first two years, Bamboo Airways will operate eight to ten domestic routes, with priority destinations being Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Quy Nhon, and Nha Trang. It is expected that by its third year it will have opened a network of flights from Vietnam to Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. By 2023, it will have 24 domestic routes and 16 international routes.

Bamboo Airways is still awaiting air transport business licenses from the government. It plans to order an additional 26 Airbus A321 LR widebody aircraft to expand its fleet to 50.

ANZ releases updated economic forecasts

With first quarter GDP growth at 7.4 per cent year-on-year, ANZ expects some pull-back in growth momentum towards a more sustainable rate of 6.8 per cent for 2018 as a whole, followed by 7.0 per cent in 2019. 

According to the ANZ Greater Mekong Outlook report released on June 1, first quarter growth was unseasonably strong, having tended to be at its lowest at the beginning of previous years and followed by an acceleration over the course of the remainder of the year.

In terms of production, the agricultural sector grew 4.1 per cent year-on-year; the fastest rate since the series was rebased in 2012. Industry also bucked historical trends by growing 10.1 per cent year-on-year.

Growth in industrial production has already eased. The introduction of new products in 2017 pushed up growth in consumer electronics, but now that production has normalized, favorable base effects have started to fade. In the absence of additional production capacity this year, ANZ expects real industry growth to moderate.

Growth in merchandise exports has also eased, reflecting trends in manufacturing production. 

Nevertheless, with an average increase of 15.8 per cent year-to-date year-on-year as of May, Vietnam’s exports remain robust. Imports, meanwhile, haven’t grown at the same pace, leading to a $3.4 billion trade surplus year-to-date. 

While export production is still supportive of growth, the net contribution of domestically-owned production has been limited. Indeed, the improvement in the trade balance is mostly attributable to the FDI sector.

Even so, the widening of the overall trade surplus has aided the central bank in rebuilding its forex reserves, with the government reporting reserves of $64 billion as of May, or roughly 3.5 months of imports.

Newly-registered FDI continues to pour in, though at $4.7 billion as of May is lower than the $5.6 billion in the same period last year.

After the US withdrew from the TPP, the remaining members have been negotiating the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). With Vietnam expected to uphold its commitment to pursue significant economic reforms, the prospects for more FDI are positive, ANZ believes.

Inflation has been on a gradual uptrend, reaching 3.9 per cent year-on-year in May. Food prices turned a corner at the beginning of the year, implying that all major CPI components are now contributing positively to headline inflation. 

Although transport costs have risen, they have not fully reflected the trajectory of global fuel prices. Meanwhile, health-related prices only rose 3.9 per cent year-to-date compared to 16.8 per cent year-to-date in the same period last year. 

If increases are delayed further, there will be heightened risk of higher price increases down the line. In the past, when health prices were capped over a prolonged period, the subsequent changes tended to be dramatic.

As such, ANZ expects inflation to stand at 3.6 per cent in 2018; still below the maximum threshold of 4 per cent set by the government early this year. The bank then expects inflation to remain on an upward path, reaching 4.2 per cent in 2019.

Shark Tank back for season 2     

TV reality show Shark Tank will be back from July to nurture start-ups in the country and connect them with investors.

In this the second season, each episode will last 45 minutes and be broadcast at 8.30pm on Wednesdays on VTV3.

According to the organisers - TVHub and VTV24, the programme has attracted many start-ups from the industrial sector, indicating the impact of technology 4.0 on start-ups.

In the show, start-up entrepreneurs will talk about their companies to a panel of business owners and executives, hoping to raise investment from them by selling stakes.

The four “sharks” in the panel this year are Nguyen Xuan Phu, chairman of Sunhouse Group; Thai Van Linh, head of strategy & operations of VinaCapital; Pham Thanh Hung, deputy chairman of CEN Group; Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, chairman of EGroup.

They will be joined occasionally by Dzung Nguyen, director of CyberAgent Viet Nam and Thailand; Louis Nguyen, general director of Saigon Asset Management; Nguyen Thanh Viet, chairman of Intracom; and Dang Hong Anh, deputy chairman of TTC.

Shark Tank attracted many viewers when it debuted last season with 48 start-ups and saw 22 of them raise a total amount of over VND116.6 billion (US$5.1 million).

Since then, with guidance from their mentors, some of the start-ups like Tigtac, Emwear, Ogami, Supership, Phleek, and Soya Garden have done exceedingly well.

Soya Garden, in which Thuy invested VND20 billion ($877,000), has planned to open 30 restaurants around the country.

The show also offered viewers many lessons on how to develop a business and explore the market.

Shark Tank, developed by Sony Pictures, has two versions -- Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den.

Since starting in Japan in 2001, the programme has appeared in 35 nations and territories and attracted 300 million views.

In the US, the programme receives an average of 250,000 registrations every season, with 48 per cent of the start-ups succeeding in raising funds from investors. 

FTAs drive Vietnam-Australia trade ties to new heights

Vietnam and Australia have signed free trade agreements (FTAs) committing to tax rate cuts, which will help to stimulate import-export activities between the two nations.

According to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) roadmap, Australia cuts 90% of import taxes this yearand 100% of tax lines will drop to zero as from 2020. Meanwhile, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will promisingly facilitate trade ties between Vietnam and Australia.

Vo Tan Thanh, vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and General Director of VCCI HCM City branch, told a conference on Vietnam and Australia trade connection held in the City on June 4 .

Mr Thanh said Vietnam-Australia bilateral ties have seen strong development over the past 45 years, especially in trade, investment and tourism. Bilateral trade hit US$6.5 billion last year, including US$3.3 billion from Vietnam’s exports to Australia and nearly US$3.2 billion from its imports. Australia is currently Vietnam’s eighth largest trading partner while Vietnam is the 15th biggest trading partner of the Oceanic nation.

By the end of last year, Australia had injected US$1.8 billion in about 400 projects in Vietnam, ranking 19th out of 126 countries and territories investing in the country.

The Australian Government has been encouraging its businesses to land more investments in Vietnam, which has also run numerous projects in Australia. Thanh said he believed that with the current growth rate, Australia's investment ranking in Vietnam would be remarkably improved towards becoming one of the top ten foreign investors in Vietnam.

Australia is also among the biggest official development assistance (ODA) donor countries to Vietnam. Every year, it provides around US$150 million worth of ODA for Vietnam. Nearly 300,000 Vietnamese people are living in the country, which serves as a bridge to boost bilateral trade ties.

Tien Thinh International director Le Thanh Tung, said Vietnam’s exports to Australia make up 1.7% of the country’s total imports only, although Vietnam is its 15th biggest exporter.

Australia is considered a potential market for Vietnamese businesses. However, to expand trade and investment activities in Australia, domestic businesses should make further research on the market as well as its investment policies and other regulations, said Mr Tung.

Gary Dawes, senior international trade adviser from the New South Wales Business Chamber, said Australia is the fifth biggest economy in the Asia-Pacific region and the Australia Government has long-term and consistent investment and trade policies.

Vietnamese businesses should define their target market and ability to approach if they want to invest or do business in the country. As a gateway of many economies, Vietnam will have an opportunity to penetrate other markets after its products enter Australia, said Mr Dawes.

Businesses at the conference also put questions concerning exports to Australia, investment attraction policies of New South Wales, information on consumer trends in furniture, plastic packaging, real estate investment opportunities, and real estate trend in the next five years.

Bac Giang rejects information about litchi glut

The provincial government of Bac Giang has rejected rumors that litchi faced a glut that has prompted certain farmers to dump the unsold fruit, asserting that litchi production and consumption in the province is normal now, news website VnEconomy reports.

The authorities of Bac Giang Province insisted that some 60 domestic and foreign traders had come to purchase litchi at over 40 farms in early harvest season.

“The information litchi prices went down at a record low of VND10,000 per three-kilo bunch does not reflect the litchi production and consumption in the province, causing worries to farmers,” the provincial authority stressed.

Litchi prices in the early season reached a peak between VND30,000 and VND45,000 per kilo. Litchi cultivated according to VietGap standard cost VND22,000 a kilo on June 1 in Tan Yen District.

However, the provincial government admitted that litchi priced at VND10,000 a kilo was of poor quality with small sizes.

“Bac Giang litchi consumption at the time averages out at 1,200 tons a day, with 9,000 tons having been sold, generating estimated revenue of VND170 billion,” VnEconomy cited the authority as saying.

Ha Nam to witness high-tech agricultural products     

Enterprises from 20 provinces nationwide will showcase high-tech agricultural products and technologies at a fair themed, “High-tech and safe agricultural products in the Red River Delta Region in 2018.”

The exhibition will be held in the northern province of Ha Nam from June 15-21.

The event will be co-organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in co-operation with the Ha Nam People’s Committee.

Truong Quoc Hung, head of the Ha Nam Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, said with more than 300 booths comprising associations and enterprises from different provinces and cities, the fair would introduce a wide range of hi-tech agricultural products as well as advanced processing and preservation technologies.

Ha Nam is one of the pilot provinces focusing on accumulating land serving and attracting investment in agricultural production to develop high-tech agriculture. As a result, many large enterprises have invested in and developed hi-tech agriculture in the province.

The fair will be an opportunity for enterprises to expand exchanges and co-operation in the field of investment and development of high-tech agricultural production and establishment of a safe market for agricultural products.

Through this, businesses will be able to grasp the needs and tastes of customers to improve the product quality and develop new products to enhance competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets.

MARD will also organise the “Special week of Thanh Ha lychee” in Ha Noi from June 12-18, in co-operation with People’s Committee of the northern Hai Duong Province’s Thanh Ha District, to introduce local lychee.

Thanh Ha District applies the quick response (QR) code-based payment technology to develop and protect the brand name of Thanh Ha lychee.

This year, the district has so far produced nearly 3,900ha of lychee, of which nearly 93ha are suitable for exports to the United States, Australia, Japan, France and the European Union, with 30ha meeting Global GAP standards.

The total lychee output of Thanh Ha District this year is estimated at 35,000 tonnes.

Ly Son Islands break Japan market     

The island district of Ly Son in the central province of Quang Ngai has exported 500 tonnes of purple onion – a unique farm product of the island – to Japan.

It marks the first time a Japanese company has put in an order for farm produce from the island this year.

Director of the Ly Son Island Company Nguyen Van Dinh said that purple onion will be harvested and exported from June to December this year.

Dinh said the product has to meet the high requirements of the Japanese market, which means passing strict examinations and gaining a certification of origin before shipping to the country.

He said farmers in the island have been successful in gradually applying safe farming techniques and have joined value chains with high productivity, making an attractive price for export.

Last year, the district began construction of a high-tech farm to produce organic garlic on the island, with a total investment of VND4 billion (US$177,000).

Products of Ly Son Island including garlic, onion, seafood, garlic wine, dried seafood and seaweed were recognised by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, in 2007.

In 2015, 40 tonnes of Ly Son black garlic were exported to Thailand.

The island has planned to produce organic black garlic as well as garlic oils for export to Japan, the US and other Asian countries.

Ly Son garlic and purple onion have a distinct flavour and a high demand both at home and in foreign markets.

The island produced 2,500 tonnes of garlic and 6,500 tonnes of purple onion from 1,000ha of farmland last year.

The island, known as the Kingdom of Garlic in Viet Nam, has around 21,000 inhabitants, of whom 73 per cent make their living from farming garlic and spring onions, alongside fishing. 

Ninh Thuan kicks off construction of Vietnam’s largest solar power plant

CMX Re Sunseap Vietnam has collaborated with Ninh Thuan province’s People’s Committee to get the construction project for the CMX Renewable Energy Vietnam solar power plant in My Son commune, Ninh Son district, in the southern province of Ninh Thuan.

The plant has a capacity of 168MWp and total investment capital of roughly VND4.4 trillion. This is the largest scale solar power project in Vietnam so far.

Frank Phuan, CEO & Executive Director of Sunseap Group said the solar power plant is built on an area of 186 hectares in My Son commune, Ninh Son district.

With a capacity of 186MWp, the CMX Renewable Energy Vietnam solar plant is expected to supply more than 200 million kWh of electricity to the national grid every year, helping to meet the population’s power consumption demands.

After the groundbreaking ceremony, the main investor will construct the plant, which is expected to come into operation and integrate with the national grid by June 2019. When completed, the plant will provide electricity to about 200,000 households, and generate 200 jobs in the locality.

Pham Van Hau, vice chairman of NinhThuan People’s Committee said this is the fourth solar power project to have got underway in NinhThuan province this year.

Vincom Retail holds first post-listing annual shareholders’ meeting

Vincom Retail Joint Stock Corporation (Vincom Retail), a member of property developer Vingroup, held its first annual shareholders’ meeting on Thursday after listing on the HCM Stock Exchange.

In 2017, Vincom Retail recorded a total revenue of VNĐ5.5 trillion (US$244.4 million). Most of the figure was from leasing retail slots, which contributed VNĐ4.45 trillion to the total revenue, an increase of 17 per cent from 2016.

Last year, the company launched 15 new commercial centres, raising the total number of such centres across the country to 46, and improved the performance of the ones that had been opened in 2016.

Vincom Retail has an area of 1.2 million sq.m. for retail lease---the highest in Việt Nam---and attracted 115 million visitors to its shopping centres in 2017, a yearly increase of 42 per cent.

The company earned VNĐ2 trillion in post-tax profit in 2017.

It debuted 1.9 billion shares on the stock market on November 6, 2017, which has been a key motivation for the company to achieve its business targets.

The listing of Vincom Retail on HCM Stock Exchange was the highlight of the Vietnamese stock market in 2017. Vincom Retail became one of the 10 largest companies by market capitalisation.

The deal was recognised by the international media as the most successful share sale in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017.

In 2018, Vincom Retail targets to lead the retail sector in Việt Nam and continue to maintain its status as the first retailer of the country.

The company will increase the number of shopping centres in all cities, provinces and districts by opening 20-30 new shopping centres this year as well as improve the quality of employees, infrastructure and corporate governance to achieve the best performance.

Vincom Retail targets VNĐ8 trillion in total revenue for 2018 and VNĐ2.5 trillion in post-tax profit. The figures mark an increase of 45 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, from last year.

In the first quarter of this year, the company posted VNĐ1.6 trillion in revenue, a yearly increase of 16 per cent, and VNĐ702 billion in pre-tax profit, down by 8 per cent year-on-year, as the company had sold its entire stakes in associate businesses in 2017.

High-end resort and hotel operator Vinpearl JSC plans to raise $325 million from bond issuance, guaranteed by its parent company Vingroup.

The trust deed will be signed between Vinpearl, Vingroup and Bank of New York, London Branch.

The paying and exchange agency agreement will be signed between Vinpearl, Vingroup, Bank of New York, London Branch, and New York Mellon SA/NV, Luxembourg Branch.

The subscription agreement will be finalised between Vinpearl, Vingroup, Credit Suisse (Singapore) Limited and Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong Branch.

The bondholders will be able to convert Vinpearl’s bonds into the amount of Vingroup shares owned by Vinpearl, Vingroup said on Tuesday.

According to Vingroup’s annual report of 2017, Vinpearl holds more than 90 million Vingroup shares, accounting for 3.14 per cent of the giant property developer’s charter capital.

Vingroup is currently listing more than 2.63 billion shares on HCM Stock Exchange with the code VIC, having rallied 13.3 per cent in the last seven trading sessions to VNĐ124,700 per share on Thursday. 

Vietnamese, Cuban businesses ink trade agreements

Vietnamese and Cuban businesses have signed five trade deals within the framework of Ho Chi Minh City’s Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Conference in Havana.

The agreements aim to encourage the exchange of business delegations, create favourable conditions for the promotion of Vietnamese products in Cuba, assist each other in organising events, share information about consumers’ consumption trends and habits, and boost import-export.

In addition, the two sides also agreed to deploy projects to build a Cuba House in Vietnam and a washing-up liquid plant in Cuba’s Mariel special development zone, and further foster tourism cooperation.

Opening the conference, Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong highlighted the fine friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba, which were founded and nurtured by senior leaders of both nations.

The Cuban market boasts great potential for HCM City’s enterprises, especially in the fields of tourism, agriculture, food and consumer goods while Cuba has strengths in terms of pharmaceuticals, health care and construction, Phong said.

Meanwhile, President of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce Orlando Hernandez Guillen noted strides in bilateral economic and trade ties, making Vietnam the second largest partner of Cuba in Asia.

Representatives of organisations and businesses of Vietnam and Cuba shared experiences and feasible ideas for economic cooperation, especially in the spheres of renewable energy, tourism and property.

As many as 170 delegates from 30 organisations and enterprises of Cuba attended the conference co-chaired by Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Nguyen Trung Thanh and Deborah Rivas, Director of the Investment Department under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment of Cuba.

Vietnam needs a proper plan to protect intellectual property rights

In order to fully benefit from the opportunities brought about by new generation free trade agreements (FTAs), Vietnam will be required to map out a strategy for the effective protection of intellectual property rights.

The industrial revolution 4.0 is gathering pace and is greatly driven on by the emergence of many new technologies such as big data, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, which is posing both opportunities and challenges to the development of the value of intellectual property rights (IPRs).

IPRs will become a decisive tool for the technological competitiveness, necessitating that all organizations and businesses know how to create, hold, and own intellectual property (IP) so that they can develop sustainably.

For businesses, the value of intellectual property is getting higher than that of visible assets, which is demonstrated by multinational groups like Apple, Google, and IBM.

Despite having a complete legal system for IP in accordance with international standards, in order to utilize its efficiency, Vietnam must raise awareness of IPRs and use them to create a healthy competitive environment to boost trade and investment.

Therefore, increasing awareness for IP protection, exploitation and development is viewed as a legal platform for businesses to improve their production efficiency, maximize profits, and develop sustainably to firmly establish themselves in the domestic market towards achieving foreign market penetration This is one of the fundamental measures to grow further and sharpen increase the competitiveness of the national economy.

Tran Le Hong, chief of the secretariat of the Intellectual Property Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology has described IPRs as the legal foundation for businesses’ IP, which has becomes crucial to the operation of modern companies. Hence, increasingly complicated IPRs and IP related disputes demand highly raised awareness of IP, which is seen as a matter of paramount importance. The Intellectual Property Department is implementing many IP protection measures, including the building of a national IP strategy to submit to the Prime Minister for approval in the near future.

Accordingly, Vietnam’s IP system will be developed in tandem with the Industrial Revolution 4.0 to fully tap IP potential and value for the benefit of national socio-economic development.

As ever greater numbers of foreign investors and businesses show their keen interest in the Vietnamese market, exports of raw materials and outsourcing work are no longer the country’s main strength to ensure sustainable economic development associated with significant breakthroughs.

It is high time for organizations, individuals and businesses to use IP as a motivating factor for renovation, trade, and investment promotion and national competitive capacity improvement, thereby contributing to socio-economic development.

According to Le Thi Khanh Van, Vice President of Vietnam’s Intellectual Women Association, globalization is a golden opportunity if Vietnam swiftly grasps its available opportunities and equips itself with the requisite knowledge to fully exploit all of the benefits. To capitalize on the opportunities presented by new generation FTAs, the strategy to protect IPRs is required to indicate its high efficiency for sustainable development, Mrs Van says.

Facebook selling user data—this time to mobile manufacturers

Hot on the heels of Facebook’s data leak in March, the social network is once again in hot water for sharing user data with mobile manufacturers, including Chinese brands that hold large market shares in Vietnam such as Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi, and TCL, and even global brands like Samsung, Apple, Blackberry, and Amazon.  

The New York Times reported that on June 5, Facebook admitted to strike deals with four Chinese mobile giants, Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi, and TCL. Accordingly, the deal between Facebook and Huawei has been going since 2010, while the deals with other mobile manufacturers could have been going for similar durations.

Facebook’s representative also said that its partnership with four Chinese brands remains effective, but the social network will soon cancel the deal with Huawei.

This particular round of scandal broke earlier this week, when Facebook was revealed to allow access to user data for 60 firms, including Amazon, Apple, Blackberry, and Samsung.

The New York Times also quoted Facebook’s representative as explaining that the deals were a small part of its efforts to lure people to the social network site since 2007, and was made prior to the Facebook smart phone applications. The co-operation has allowed mobile manufacturers to look at users’ personal information, such as addresses, the number of likes, and status updates.

The co-operation with Facebook is supposed to help Huawei – the world’s second largest mobile manufacture – in creating its own application named “social phone” which will allow users to read messages and manage their accounts of many different social networks.

Facebook’s representative stated that data shared with Huawei is located on users’ devices and is not moved to the Chinese mobile manufacturer’s servers.

“The deals between Facebook and Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo, and TCL have been under control right from the start,” affirmed Fransico Varela, deputy chairman of Facebook. “We wanted to make it clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on device, not on Huawei’s servers.”

Facebook is getting mired down in data leak scandals left and right, getting to the point that there are hardly a couple of weeks between compromising information about the company making headlines in the global media.

These news uncovering newer and newer facets of the corporation’s dealing point at core-deep troubles in its attitude to and handling of the personal information of its users. It is either a blatant disregard of the sanctity of personal information or an astonishing inability to regulate the sprawling corporation’s inner dealing, as one hand does not know what the other is doing.

With the huge market shares of the leading mobile brands as well as the popularity of Facebook among Vietnamese people (64 million registered users as of July last year), the deals could have contributed to these firms’ making bank in Vietnam.

Latest data released by market research company IDC shows that Samsung leads the Vietnamese smart phone market with 32 per cent, followed by China-based Oppo with 24 per cent. “Tenderfoot” Xiaomi and giant Apple rank at the third position, each with 7 per cent.

One year after entering Vietnam, Xiaomi has quickly gained a foothold and rose to the same standing as Apple. Xiaomi CEO Lei June also plans to expand market share as well create fresh competition between mobile brands in Vietnam. “We will create more competition by offering premium configurations at reasonable prices,” June added.

Lately, Huawei—the world’s second largest mobile manufacturer with 153 million mobile phones sold in 2017—also announced plans to become the second best-selling mobile phone brand in Vietnam by 2020.

GELEX fined to more than $53,000 for erroneous tax declaration

The Hanoi Department of Taxation has just issued a fine of more than VND181 million ($8,000) to Vietnam Electrical Equipment JSC (GELEX) for erroneous tax declaration, along with over VND1.03 billion ($45,400) in tax arrears and late payment fees.

Additionally, GEX also has to pay more than VND1.03 billion ($45,400), including VND906 million ($39,900) in tax arrears and VND125 million ($5,500) in penalty for late payments.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX), the Hanoi Department of Taxation has issued a fine for GELEX (code: GEX)’s administrative violations. The company submitted a false declaration, which resulted in reduced tax payments. Thereby, GEX was fined over VND181 million ($8,000), equivalent to 20 per cent of the difference between the declared and due tax value.

Related to this incident, GEX's Accounting Department told VIR that the corporation had just finished its tax payments before receiving the decision of the Hanoi Department of Taxation.

In 2017, GEX’s revenue increased by 1.8 times, and recorded VND526 billion ($23.2 million) in profit from selling investment projects. The company reported after-tax profit of VND1.307 trillion ($57.6 million), doubled the 2016 profit and exceeding the annual plan by 24.5 per cent.

Gelex has officially listed 266.8 million shares on HSX in early 2018. In the first quarter of 2018, GEX's net revenue hit over VND2.8 trillion ($123.35 million), equivalent to the same period last year. After-tax profit reached VND312 billion ($13.74 million), a slight increase on-year.

Gelex's total revenue is expected to hit VND15 trillion ($660.8 million) this year, including VND12.5 trillion ($550.6 million) from electric devices and the rest from logistics and infrastructure investment.

HCM City to host Mekong Beauty Show     

More than 200 Vietnamese and foreign cosmetics firms will showcase their new technologies and innovations at the 2nd Mekong Beauty Show in HCM City from June 14 to 16.

The annual business-to-business beauty exhibition has established a platform for industry players in the entire supply chain covering beauty and cosmetics, hair and nails, herbal and health, and OEM and packaging, Joy Zou, international marketing manager of Informa Exhibitions, the organiser, said.

The South Korean beauty industry would be the most important driver of the event, with 110 firms from that country exhibiting more than 400 brands, Zou told a press meeting on June 7.

More than 150 buyers from Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are expected to visit the event to source products and seek new partnerships, she said.

The three-day expo at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre is expected to attract more than 12,000 visitors.

Tran Quang Thang, director of the HCM City Institute of Economics and Management, said Viet Nam’s cosmetics industry with annual growth of 30 per cent offers enormous potential for foreign and local firms.

The country’s middle class is set to become 33 million strong by 2020, and is looking for healthier and higher quality brands, he said.

Seeing the huge potential of the beauty market, most premium foreign brands have entered the market and now dominate all categories of the industry, he said.

But counterfeit beauty products have also flooded the market, with more than 50 per cent of products sold online being substandard or fake, he added.

Bart Verheyen, commercial director of beauty, health and wellbeing retail chain MEDiCARE, said its number of stores would be expanded to 100 by the end of this year from the current 72 to meet the rising demand.

The chain enjoyed growth of 30 per cent last year, he said.