Vietnam Airlines shares placed under control for late submission of financial reports

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) has decided to put shares of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (HVN) under control from May 12 due to late submission of its 2022 audited financial statements.

Previously, the HoSE had put HVN shares on warning from April 25 due to a delay of 15 days for its audited financial statements. The latest move comes after the airline failed to meet the deadline by 30 days.

As ruled in Vietnam, a public company must release its audited annual financial statements within 10 days from the date they are signed, but not more than 90 days from the end of the fiscal year. Vietnam Airlines had already missed these deadlines.

On March 29, the airline submitted an application to the State Securities Commission (SSC) and HoSE asking for a postponement. However, the corporation did not specify an intended date for submission.

The carrier cited the large scale of its operations globally, with 27 affiliated units (nine domestic and 18 foreign branches) and 15 large- or medium-scale subsidiaries operating in other fields. It argued that it was restructuring its business operations to overcome the impacts of the pandemic, and needed more time to verify reports and collect data to meet auditing standards.

However, the SSC did not agree, saying the reason was not a natural disaster, fire, pandemic, war or a force majeure.

Vietnam Airlines reported a loss of VND37.3 billion ($1.59 million) in Q1/2023, significantly improved compared to a loss of VND2.69 trillion ($114.45 million) in the same period last year. Its net revenue reached nearly VND23.49 trillion ($1 billion), up 102% year-on-year and its highest quarterly revenue since 2020.

In 2022, the national flag carrier suffered a net loss of VND10.37 trillion ($442.2 million) although its revenue hit nearly VND71 trillion ($3.03 billion), 2.5 times higher than that of 2021 and equivalent to over 70% of the pre-pandemic level in 2019.

However, its 2022 loss was VND3 trillion ($127.9 million), lower than that in 2021 and the plan set in the middle of the year.

By December 31, 2022, Vietnam Airlines had equity of negative VND10.2 trillion ($425 million).

HVN shares were priced at VND12,700 ($0.54) at Friday's close.