Monthly Investor Report

RNS Number : 5475Z

VietNam Holding Limited

18 September 2015

 



VietNam Holding Limited ("VNH" or the "Company")

Monthly Investor Report

A report detailing the activities of the Company for the month of August 2015 has been issued by VietNam Holding Asset Management Limited, the investment manager of the Company. Electronic copies of the report have been made available to shareholders on the Company's website at http://www.vietnamholding.com/publications/investor-reports and a summary of the report is included below.

Investor Report Summary

Vietnam News

A difficult month with the VNAS losing 8% to 551 (in USD: 10.9%). This was the month when the image of proficient Chinese technocrats suddenly became one of flailing autocrats, courtesy of its little 2.7% (v USD) currency devaluation. Vietnam responded in kind with its own effective devaluation in the month of 2.9%, bringing the Dong's ytd depreciation v USD to 4.8% (and 6.2% since 1/1/14).

Vietnam really didn't have much of a choice, with it having to burn forex to hold up the Dong within its allowed band, prior to it moving; so in Vietnam's case this wasn't so much "policymaking" as rather doing what the market required of it. Such is the key difference between China and Vietnam in matters of foreign exchange: Vietnam has much lower, but still respectable, forex reserves of c. USD40bn, whereas China's still-over USD3tn.             

VNH Insights

In line with the VNAS' decline in August VNH's NAV per share lost 8%, closing the month at USD 1.99 as the VNH portfolio was not spared from the Chinese stock market's tumble.

The broader question also looms of how a worse-than-expected Chinese economic slowdown will affect Vietnam. Exports to China could suffer, not least on account of still-weaker commodity export prices. But in other respects one senses a continued cyclical divergence between the neighbours: FDI into Vietnam still looks set fair and inward remittances from the global diaspora continue their multi-year upward march. Vietnamese consumption remains on a newly robust path.       

Foreign ownership limit changes are still pending. As yet only brokerage stocks have a green light to go limitless, which leading brokers SSI and HSC are proceeding with. The government is busy working out the allowed new limits for each sector. Unless further delays occur (never implausible in Vietnam), the full list of sectors should be available sometime in 4Q2015. Actual implementation will likely occur in waves during 4Q15 and 1H16. We expect a significant new percentage of total Vietnam market cap to be freed up for foreign buying, though a more precise statement than this is not yet possible.

For more information please contact:

VietNam Holding Asset Management Limited	Tel: [phone]
Gyentsen Zatul - Investor Relations [e-mail] www.vietnamholding.com
Altium Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser)	Tel: [phone]
Tim Richardson
Winterflood Investment Trusts (Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Joe Winkley / Neil Langford
Buchanan Communications	Tel: [phone]
Charles Ryland / Vicky Watkins

 

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