As one of the chemical enterprises with a solid financial foundation and impressive growth on the stock market, Duc Giang Chemicals Group JSC (DGC) is undergoing the most difficult period in its history.

The biggest shock came from a criminal case prosecuted by the Ministry of Public Security in March, involving acts of environmental pollution, violations of regulations on resource exploitation, and violations of accounting regulations occurring at Duc Giang Chemicals and several related units.

In this case, Dao Huu Huyen, his son Dao Huu Duy Anh, and multiple individuals, were prosecuted and detained to serve the investigation.

The legal crisis rapidly triggered a series of consequences for the enterprise. On May 26, DGC stock was moved to trading restriction status due to delayed submission of its audited financial statements for 2025.

On July 2, the HCMC Stock Exchange (HOSE) continued to place DGC under warning status starting from July 9, because the enterprise had failed to organize its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders within the six-month period from the end of the fiscal year.

This marks the second time since the beginning of the year that DGC stock has been placed under warning status. Prior to that, the enterprise had been warned due to its 2025 financial statements receiving a qualified audit opinion from UHY Auditing and Consulting Company Limited.

According to the enterprise's explanation, the qualified opinion primarily arose because UHY was appointed to replace PwC after the year-end inventory counting period of 2025, and therefore did not directly witness the inventory counting process for an inventory amount valued at over 950 billion VND.

Consecutive incidents caused DGC to be excluded from a series of important index baskets such as the VN30, VN100, VNAllshare, VN50 Growth, and VNMITECH, creating additional technical selling pressure from ETFs and index-tracking investment funds.

This development is clearly reflected through the stock's market price. While at the end of 2025, DGC was still trading around VND93,000 per share, on July 6 it only stood at VND46,250 per share, losing nearly half of its value. Compared to the peak of around 125,000 VND established in mid-2024, the stock has decreased by more than 60 percent.

Meanwhile, business operations have been facing considerable pressure. In 2025, consolidated revenue reached over VND11,262 billion, an increase of 14 percent, but net profit after tax only increased by about 3 percent, rising to VND3,189 billion.

In the first quarter of 2026, the picture became less positive as revenue decreased by 24 percent to VND2,125 billion, while net profit after tax plunged by nearly half compared to the same period last year to VND430 billion. 

The enterprise explained that the price of sulfur increased threefold compared to the same period, while electricity, coke, and ammonia all experienced sharp increases. The temporary suspension of mining activities at a key apatite mine also forced DGC to increase external purchases of ore at higher costs.

Efforts to recover

Following the personnel upheaval, Dao Huu Kha, the younger brother of the former president Dao Huu Huyen, was appointed as the chair of the Board of Directors from May 8 for the remainder of the 2024–2029 term.

Immediately upon taking over, the new leadership conducted a restructuring of the governance apparatus at multiple subsidiary companies within the DGC ecosystem to stabilize production and business operations. This was the initial step aimed at restoring the confidence of shareholders and the market.

The company has also begun addressing the issues that led to its shares being placed under warning status. However, issues related to the criminal investigation remain dependent on the conclusions of law enforcement authorities. This means there is still uncertainty over when DGC shares may be fully removed from warning and trading restriction status.

Despite the short-term challenges, the company's long-term outlook has not necessarily been undermined. DGC remains Vietnam's leading producer of yellow phosphorus, phosphoric acid, and various industrial chemicals, with a fully integrated production chain ranging from apatite mining to downstream processing.

Notably, more than 70 percent of the company's revenue comes from exports. Yellow phosphorus prices rose nearly 30 percent in the second quarter of 2026. Some forecasts suggest prices could continue increasing as global phosphate ore supplies tighten while demand from electric vehicle batteries, energy storage systems, semiconductors, and data centers continues to grow.

Manh Ha