Saigonship resumes hefty cash dividends after years-long deadlock

Saigonship Shipping Transport JSC has announced a combined cash dividend payout of 92.5% for 2023 and 2024, ending a years-long stalemate among major shareholders that had prevented profit distribution since 2022.

Under a board resolution, the company, registered on Vietnam’s unlisted public companies market UPCoM as SGS, will pay a 25% cash dividend for 2023 and a 67.5% cash dividend for 2024, equivalent to VND9,250 ($0.35) per share.

The record date is January 15, with payment scheduled for February 3.

With more than 14.4 million shares outstanding, the total payout is estimated at around VND133 billion ($5.06 million).

Saigonship has a concentrated shareholder structure, with state-owned Saigon Transport Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO), under the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, holding 51%, while Global Logistics Services Co. Ltd owns 37.42%.

The company had regularly paid cash dividends prior to 2021 but was unable to do so from 2022 to 2025, as key issues – including business plans, audited financial statements and profit distribution proposals – repeatedly failed to secure the required 65% shareholder approval.

At its annual general meeting in October 2025, all major agenda items presented by the board were vetoed by a group of large shareholders. SAMCO voted in favor, while Global Logistics Services opposed the resolutions, citing unresolved issues in the company’s financial statements for 2022-2024 that had been flagged by auditors and the supervisory board.

Audit qualifications over three consecutive years led SGS shares to be placed under warning status, while delays in submitting reviewed semi-annual financial statements for 2024 and 2025 resulted in trading restrictions on UPCoM.

Breakthrough meeting

The impasse appeared to be resolved at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on January 5, 2026, where resolutions received near-unanimous approval. The meeting was attended by shareholders representing 86.63% of outstanding shares, with all items – including financial statements, business plans, board and supervisory remuneration, and wage funds for 2021-2024 – passing with approval of 99.9999%.

The company also reshuffled its leadership. Tran Thien was appointed chairman, Huynh Nhu Y as vice chairwoman, and Le Thi Thanh Thuan was confirmed as CEO. Two supervisory board members were replaced as part of the overhaul.

Tran Thien is a major shareholder in Global Logistics Services and the founder of GLS Shipping JSC, entities that together form a closely linked shareholder network within Saigonship.

Ahead of the extraordinary meeting, CEO Le Thi Thanh Thuan issued an open letter in December 2025 calling on shareholders and board members to support business development efforts, warning that the company’s core warehouse and logistics operations had been hit hard in 2024-2025.

She said output declined sharply due to heavy reliance on a small number of strategic clients and adverse shifts in the logistics market, leaving the company vulnerable when major customers cut volumes.

Weak earnings, strong balance sheet

Saigonship’s business performance deteriorated in 2024, with revenue falling 21.6% to VND174 billion ($6.62 million) and net profit dropping 45.7% to VND27.3 billion ($1.04 million).

In the first nine months of 2025, revenue slid further to VND100 billion from VND132 billion a year earlier, while net profit declined to VND14.2 billion from VND21.2 billion.

Despite the downturn, the company remains financially robust. As of September 30, 2025, Saigonship reported total assets of VND363 billion ($13.8 million), largely comprising cash and bank deposits of around VND254 billion ($9.66 million), with virtually no bank debt and total liabilities of just VND34 billion.