Vietnam tech unicorn VNG shares rally on market supply, demand: company

Tech giant VNG Corporation says its share price hit the ceiling for eight consecutive sessions due to stock market supply and demand and the tastes, needs and evaluations of investors.

VNG, registered on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) as VNZ, explained the situation as required by rules in a letter sent to the State Securities Commission and the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX).

The corporation does not have any intervention or control over the recent stock price movements of VNZ, while its business activities remain normal, without any fluctuations from the increase in share price.

On the UPCoM, the VNZ share price hit VND893,400 ($37.88) per unit on February 10, up more than 270% after only eight sessions, while liquidity ranged from 100-300 shares.

Thanks to this series of galloping increases, the market capitalization of VNG has reached VND24,000 billion ($1.02 billion), nearly four times higher than the time it was registered on the UPCoM.

Founded in 2004 by Vietnamese businessman Le Hong Minh, 45 now, VNG is a leading technology services provider in Vietnam. It was officially valued at $1 billion in the World Startup Report, becoming the first unicorn in Vietnam.

VNG in January named Vo Sy Nhan its new chairman, replacing Le Hong Minh. Minh remains as general director of VNG.

VNG has a concentrated ownership rate with nearly 80% of capital held by major shareholders and a member of the board of management.

According to its information disclosure, as of November 28, 2022, VNG had three major shareholders: VNG Limited, headquartered in the Cayman Islands, holding 49% of charter capital or 61.1% of outstanding shares; BigV Technology Corporation with a 4.6% stake and accounting for 5.7% of outstanding shares; and Le Hong Minh, who owns a 9.8% stake and 12.3% of outstanding shares.

VNG reported a loss of more than VND1,315 billion ($56 million) in 2022, a record since its business indices went public for the first time and breaking its loss target of VND993 billion ($42.35 million).

The company's net revenue in the year reached VND7,800 billion ($332.63 million), up 2% year-on-year, according to its consolidated financial statement.

By the end of 2022, VNG's total assets were more than VND9,092 billion ($387.73 million), down 1% compared to the beginning of the year. Of this, long-term assets increased 2.2 times to VND4,313 billion ($183.93 million), mainly due to an increase of nearly VND910 billion ($38.81 million) in construction cost of VNG Data Center.

The center, a new data hub with the largest rack scale in Vietnam, opened in mid-December, 2022. Cash, cash equivalents and bank deposits were VND3,079 billion ($131.3 million).

In 2022, VNG poured more than VND1,000 billion ($42.64 million) into startups, but in the portfolio, only the investment in Dayone JSC - a data processing and leasing company - recorded a profit in the year.

As of December 31, 2022, the accumulated loss from VNG's investment reached VND643 billion ($27.42 million), of which the accumulated loss that VNG incurred from Tiki hit VND510 billion ($21.75 million), followed by Telio VND58 billion ($2.47 million), Funding Asia VND44 billion ($1.88 million) and Ecotruck VND24 billion ($1.02 million).

VNG's liabilities stood at VND3,758 billion ($160.26 million), while equity was VND5,333 billion ($227.42 million).