Chuong Duong Beverages at risk of being delisted due to prolonged losses

Chuong Duong Beverages Joint Stock Company, of which top brewer Sabeco holds a 62.06% stake, is at risk of being delisted after an unsuccessful business year with a record loss of VND119 billion ($4.83 million) in 2023.

In its latest financial statement, the company, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as SCD, recorded revenue of VND39.4 billion ($1.6 million) in the fourth quarter of 2023, down 20.4% year-on-year, and an after-tax loss of VND45.7 billion ($1.86 million), more than three times the loss of the same period in 2022.

Last year, its revenue reached VND126 billion ($5.12 million), down 25.4% year-on-year. After deducting expenses, the company incurred a loss of VND119 billion, nearly three times the VND49 billion recorded in 2022, and the largest since its listing. 2023 also marked the third consecutive year the company had reported a loss.

This result has put SCD under the control of the HoSE.

In a notice issued on January 22, the HoSE warned that SCD is likely to be delisted according to Article 120 of the government’s Decree No. 155/2020/ND-CP dated December 31, 2020.

The major bourse said that according to regulations, a public company will have its stock delisted when it suffers losses for three consecutive years or the total accumulated losses exceed the actual charter capital or equity.

In April 2023, SCD was put under control by the HoSE after recording consecutive losses of VND35.59 billion ($1.45 million) and VND48.68 billion ($1.98 million) in 2021 and 2022.

In an explanatory note, the leadership said the company’s business activities continued to be severely affected by high input costs, difficult external economic conditions, lower-than-expected demand, and increasing unemployment.

Chuong Duong Beverages was formerly Usine Belgique of France’s B.G.I Group, the largest beverage factory in southern Vietnam before 1975. In mid-1977, B.G.I Group officially transferred its stake and handed over the entire factory to the Vietnamese state under the name Chuong Duong Beverages Factory.

In 2004, Chuong Duong Beverages was officially equitized, and listed on the HoSE two years later.

SCD closed the Thursday session at VND15,900 ($0.65) per share.