Food major Kido fined for information disclosure violations

Leading Vietnamese food and cooking oil producer Kido Group has been fined VND117.5 million ($4,830) for non-disclosure or late disclosure of information.

The information related to bonds issued, shareholder meetings and salaries and remuneration of senior personnel.

Under a decision issued by the State Securities Commission (SSC), Kido Group was fined VND92.5 million ($3,800) for not submitting to the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) reports on the use of capital raised from bond issuance as well as principal and coupon payments in 2021 and the first half of 2022; as also realization of issuer commitments to bond holders in 2022 and the first half of 2023.

Kido also failed to post documents used at its 2023 annual general shareholder meeting on time on the SSC’s information disclosure system and on the website of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

The group was fined another VND25 million ($1,030) for not having a separate section mentioning remuneration given to each board member and the salaries of general director and other managers in the annual financial report and shareholder report submitted at the annual meeting.

In the first nine months of 2023, Kido recorded VND6.67 trillion ($274.2 million) in revenue, down 30.2% year-on-year. However, thanks to financial revenues skyrocketing more than 12 times to VND1.27 trillion ($52.2 million), its net profit was VND673 billion ($27.7 million), double the same period last year.

The soaring financial revenue came from the transfers of 17.8 million shares of Kido Frozen Foods Co., Ltd and a 24% stake at Calofic Corporation, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Wilmar International Group, Singapore, for respective profits of VND1.05 trillion ($43.17 million) and VND76 billion ($3.12 million) in the first half of this year.

The group has targeted consolidated revenues of VND15 trillion ($638.4 million) and pre-tax profits of VND900 billion ($38.3 million) this year, up 20% and up 76% year-on-year, respectively.

If the targets are met, they would mark the company's highest revenue and profit in seven years, excluding the profit made in 2015-2016 from the sale of its confectionery business.

Kido, listed on the HoSE as KDC, closed Friday at VND63,000 ($2.59) per share.