Finland’s PYN Elite sees 1.8% returns in June, beating VN-Index performance

Finland-based PYN Elite Fund posted 1.8% in returns last month, versus a 1.3% decline on the VN-Index, the main gauge of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

Its investment performance, however, was weaker than a 4.97% gain in May, according to the fund’s monthly report. It reported a year-to-date performance of 13.14%, above the 10.2% growth of the VN-Index in the same period.

Its June performance was driven by strong increases of shares in national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (19.4%), airport developer and operator ACV (17.9%), and tech giant FPT (12.3%).

The government, which still owns over 86% of Vietnam Airlines (HoSE: HVN), recently allowed the airline to extend a state-backed loan repayment of $160 million for three more years at favorable conditions. This year, HVN is expecting to record all-time high revenue and turnaround profit.

HVN is Vietnam’s biggest full-service airline, and the domestic market features exclusively Vietnamese airlines. HVN also owns subsidiaries in the industry value chain, and will divest from some at a strong price to reduce accumulated losses, according to the report.

The worst performers in the fund’s portfolio in June were VNDirect Securities (HoSE: VND, down 9.8%), Sao Mai Group (HoSE: ASM, down 10.2%), and Dat Xanh Real Estate Services JSC (HoSE: DXS, down 14.7%).

As of June 28, PYN Elite Fund had EUR454.78 million ($493.46 million) in net asset value and EUR791.1 million ($858.38 million) in assets under management.

Among its 10 top holdings were Sacombank, MBBank, HDBank, TPBank, and VietinBank, in addition to ACV, FPT, DNSE Securities, Dabaco, and HVN.

HVN and Dabaco replaced Vinh Hoan Corp and Saigon-Hanoi Securities in the top-holding list compared to the May report.

In a note late last month, the fund’s portfolio manager Petri Deryng predicted the VN-Index to reach an all-time high of 1,700 points by the end of this year. The projection was unchanged from the fund’s May report and much higher than the consensus forecasts of 1,400-1,500 points by other brokerage houses in Vietnam.

The index closed at 1,283.04 on Friday.