Vietnam Airlines files recovery solutions hoping to shake stock supervision

Vietnam Airlines has sent the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange a plan with measures that the national carrier expects would help it be removed from the list of stocks with trading supervised by the exchange.

The flag airline said that its operations were hit hard by the pandemic, causing heavy losses in 2020, 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. It had to hibernate its commercial passenger flights from March 2020, and only resumed services on March 15 this year.

The corporation suffered losses in consolidated business results, while its consolidated equity has been negative as of March 31 this year. Therefore, trading of its stocks is under the exchange’s supervision.

Vietnam Airlines explained to the regulator that it has worked out short-term and long-term solutions to minimize damage, improve business results, and add capital and cashflows.

The plan says Vietnam Airlines will between 2023 and 2025 continue to carry out solutions to improve business results, and issue shares to increase capital.

It will also restructure its assets and financial portfolios to increase income and cashflow. This asset restructuring will include selling or leasing back aircraft, divestment and capital transfer for some financial investment portfolios.

For airplanes, sale and leaseback (SLB) is popular among carriers worldwide. Vietnam Airlines began SLB in late 2016, but the measure had not created high proceeds, a company executive told the corporation’s annual general meeting in 2017.