Trading of shares of the PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil), Vietnam's second largest petrol distributor, officially started on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UpCOM) on the morning of March 7, more than one month after its initial public offering (IPO).

PV Oil's petrol warehouse in Ho Chi Minh City's Nha Be district 

PV Oil floated 200.4 million shares on the UpCOM at an initial price of 20,200 VND (0.89 USD) a piece.

PV Oil’s IPO on January 25 was a success with all its nearly 207 million shares on offer sold at an average price of 20,196 VND, compared to the asking price of 13,400 VND.

The company will sell more than 462 million shares, or 44.72 percent of its charter capital, to strategic investors. Under PV Oil’s approved equitisation plan, it will have charter capital of 10.342 trillion VND (455 million USD)

PV Oil currently operates 540 petrol stations across the country. It is among the country’s top oil products retailers with a 22 percent market share.

In 2017, PV Oil reported a consolidated revenue of 56 trillion VND (2.46 billion USD) with a pre-tax profit of 405 billion VND (178.02 million USD).

This year, the firm expects to earn 41 trillion VND (1.8 billion USD) in revenue and 340 billion VND (149.45 million USD) in pre-tax profit.

PV Oil is the third large-scale firm listing on the UpCOM this March, following Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR), which was listed on March 1, and PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) listed on March 6.-VNA