HCMC bourse records all-time high profit after tax

Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, Vietnam's major bourse, reported a record-high profit after tax of VND1,809 billion ($78.23 million) in 2021, up 339% from 2020.

The outstanding profit was in line with the bourse's (HoSE) forecast that domestic investor cash flow would pour into the stock market, given the country's promising economic outlook, listed enterprise profit growth of 25-30%, low interest rates, and the return of foreign capital.

HoSE's total revenue reached $140 million in 2021, tripling the 2020 result and surpassing 87% of its plan, according to its annual financial report.

Business activities accounted for 92% of its revenue structure, equivalent to $129.4 million, with the remainder coming from financial activities and service provision.

The stock exchange attributed an increase of 229% in business activities to active stock trading.

VN-Index last year reached 1,500 points, the highest in the Vietnamese stock market's 21-year history. Despite the trading system being congested at times and even shut down in the first half of the year, the average liquidity per session remained three or fourth times higher than in 2020, at roughly $952 million, with several trading sessions exceeding $2 billion.

HoSE's overall cost climbed by 95% to more than $30.3 million last year. Market monitoring expenditures accounted for 71% of this, experiencing the greatest increase following surging income from securities trading activities.

The bourse outlined four primary targets for 2022, including strengthening and developing the stock market; enhancing market size, liquidity, and transparency; launching a new technology system; refining the human resource apparatus; and completing its development strategy for the period 2022-2026.