Pharmacy shares are favored by long-term investors. Pharmaceutical Corporation Ha Tay, or Hataphar (DHT) has fixed the ex-dividend date with the rate of 180 percent, which means that investors will receive 180 shares for every 100 shares they have on June 23.

The capital used to implement the dividend payment comes from share surplus, other owner’s capital, and undistributed profits as shown in the holding company’s 2022 financial report.

Hataphar paid a high dividend after it had satisfactory business results in 2022 with net revenue of VND1.84 trillion, up 14 percent over the year before, and net profit of VND99 billion, up 38.5 percent. This was the highest profit level of Hataphar since the pharmacy firm began listing on the bourse in 2008.

The firm has set a goal of obtaining VND1.6 trillion in revenue and pre-tax profit of VND80 billion in 2023, lower figures than 2022.

In 2019, Hataphar once obtained revenue of VND2 trillion. It is the listed pharmacy firm with the second largest revenue in Vietnam.

The dividend paid by Hataphar is not high, and will be paid in shares, not in cash, which is small compared to the 150-350 percent dividend paid by Idico (ICN) and Portserco (PRC), but it is still the desire of shareholders of many other enterprises.

In general, the dividends of pharmacy firms are usually high. Foripharm (DP3), for example, advanced the dividend of 80 percent (VND8,000 for every one share), while Vietmec (DVM) offered bonus shares of 80 percent.

Analysts say that pharmacy shares are the ‘storm shelter’ for investors because they are safe for long-term investors. These shares also attract foreign investments.

The attractiveness of the industry explains why investors from the US, Japan and South Korea in recent years have been flocking to Vietnam and spending big amounts of money to invest in pharmacy firms.

ASKA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd from Japan had spent hundreds of billions of dong by the end of 2021 to acquire nearly 25 percent of Hataphar’s capital.

Most of the Vietnamese leading pharmacy firms have foreign strategic shareholders, including Hau Giang Pharmacy (DHG), Domesco (DMC), Traphaco (TRA), Imexpharm (IMP) and Pymepharco (PME). At some enterprises, foreign investors hold the controlling stake (over 51 percent).

At Domesco, the US-based Abbott holds 51.7 percent of shares, while Vietnam’s SCIC has 34.7 percent. Meanwhile, Taisho Pharmaceutical from Japan holds 51 percent at Hau Giang Pharmacy.

In 2020, when Covid-19 broke out, Stada Arzneimittel AG from Germany acquired all Pymepharco shares and then delisted PME shares in 2021.

Manh Ha