The Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) has announced consolidated pre-tax profit of over $180 million in the first nine months of this year and plans to list on the stock market in this quarter.

The State-petroleum giant’s financial report for the first nine months revealed consolidated net revenue of VND88 trillion ($3.96 billion), equal to 78 per cent of the figure in the same period last year. The decline is due to the global crude oil price falling by $9.7 per barrel in the first nine months.

Though revenue fell, Petrolimex’s consolidated pre-tax profit stood at over VND4 trillion ($180 million), up 60 per cent year-on-year and 2 per cent higher than the plan. Pre-tax profit in its petroleum business reached VND2.3 trillion ($103.5 million), accounting for 57.3 per cent of the total.

Pre-tax profit from non-petroleum business sectors, meanwhile, reached VND1.7 trillion ($76.5 million), or 42.7 per cent of the total. Profits from its bank and insurance businesses reached VND131 billion ($5.9 million), while profit from other sectors such as construction, infrastructure and warehousing reached VND257 billion ($11.5 million).

After contributing to the State budget, Petrolimex’s consolidated after-tax profit stood at more than VND3.3 trillion ($148.5 million). In this quarter it plans to divest from the Petroleum Infrastructure Company and establish the Petrolimex Services Corporation and the Petrolimex Construction and Commerce Corporation.

Petrolimex also pledged to complete all procedures to list on the stock market during the fourth quarter. As VET reported previously, Petrolimex Chairman Bui Ngoc Bao told its 2016 annual shareholders meeting on June 23 that “We must list.”

It also plans to divest from the Pjico Insurance Corporation by selecting a foreign strategic investor to sell stocks to, while the merger of the Petrolimex Land Holdings JSC into the Petrolimex Concrete and Construction Co. Ltd will be completed shortly, he added.

Petrolimex executives also told the meeting that it will continue with plans to merge the Petrolimex Group Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PG Bank) into the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank). “This deal will be finished in 2016,” Mr. Bao said.

According to a report submitted to the meeting, Petrolimex sold more than 103.5 million shares to its strategic investor, the JX Nippon Oil & Energy Vietnam, at a price of VND39,017 (around $1.7) per share, increasing its charter capital to $517 million. These shares cannot be re-sold for five years.

JX Nippon Vietnam became the official shareholder of Petrolimex on May 28. The State’s shareholding accounts for more than 86 per cent, with JX Nippon Vietnam taking 9.09 per cent and the remainder belonging to other shareholders.

Petrolimex is gradually following its roadmap of reducing State capital to less than 75 per cent. At an extraordinary general meeting held in March it announced it would issue redeemable preference shares to shareholders representing 15 per cent of 2015’s after-tax profits.

“Under the roadmap of reducing State ownership to 75 per cent and then 65 per cent, the group will have new issuances before consulting with the governing agency and seeking shareholders’ opinions,” Mr. Bao said.

VN Economic Times