Tasco plans auto assembly project, capital base growth in 2024

Tasco JSC, Vietnam’s leading construction and engineering firm, intends to launch a completely knocked-down (CKD) car assembly project this year.

The firm wants to introduce products by 2025 through its automotive subsidiary, Tasco Auto, which has 86 car dealerships with 14 automobile brands.

Tasco Auto is looking for partners that are either among the top 10 original equipment manufacturers globally, or those with diversified product portfolios and brands that are a success in Vietnam, said its chairman, Pham Van Dung, at Tasco JSC’s 2024 AGM held on Friday.

The unit targets gradually joining their global supply chains and assisting them with localization. Tasco Auto aims to bring the products to both local and foreign markets with which Vietnam has free trade agreements, Dung added.

Through its road toll collection unit VETC, Tasco, listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange as HUT, is aiming to maintain its 70% share of road electronic toll collections (ETC), and plans to adopt ETC systems on new expressways, particularly those built using the state budget, this year.

Besides expanding non-cash toll collection services at car parks, airports, petrol stations, and auto service facilities nationwide, VETC will launch a loyalty program for its customers this year.

Tasco Insurance, another HUT member, will keep its focus on the car and motorbike insurance business. It is expected to enlarge its network to 30 sales centers nationwide in June, aiming for monthly sales of VND100 billion ($3.93 million) from December this year.

At the AGM, Tasco JSC announced a rights issue to increase its charter capital by VND1.78 trillion ($70.14 million) to VND10.71 trillion ($420.8 million). Of the proceeds from the offering, VND800 billion ($31.43 million) will go to Tasco Insurance, VND500 billion ($19.65 million) to VETC, and VND485 billion ($19.06 million) to Tasco Auto.

In terms of business targets, Tasco is gunning for VND24.75 trillion ($972.5 million) in consolidated revenue in 2024, doubling that of 2023, and VND660 billion ($25.93 million) in pre-tax profit.

Last year, the Tasco ecosystem earned VND33.18 trillion ($1.3 billion) in revenue and VND10.98 trillion ($431.5 million) in consolidated revenue. Separately, Tasco Auto posted VND24.12 trillion ($947.82 million). VETC’s revenue rose 12.5% year-on-year to VND527 billion ($20.71 million). The build-operate-transfer (BOT) segment inched up 7% to VND600 billion ($23.58 million), and Tasco Insurance earned VND92 billion ($3.61 million) in sales.

Notably, Tasco’s real estate arm, Tasco Land, posted a revenue of VND373 billion ($14.65 million), a 2.6-fold surge from 2022. Its Six Senses Ninh Van Bay resort in the central beach province of Khanh Hoa and Ana Mandara Da Lat resort in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong have maintained a growth rate of 20% from the previous year.

Tasco Land has won a bid to develop the 17-hectare Ana Mandara Residence resort in the northern province of Phu Tho, with the project set to be put up for sale next year.