Vosco returns to cash dividends after 14 years despite accumulated losses

On September 12, Vosco will close the list of shareholders to pay 2024 cash dividends at a rate of 11%, equivalent to shareholders owning 1 share will receive 1,100 VND and the expected payment date is October 10, 2025.

With 140 million shares in circulation, Vosco will need to spend VND154 billion to pay dividends to shareholders. Of which, Vietnam National Shipping Lines (VIMC) - Vosco's parent company holding 51% of the capital, will receive more than VND78 billion from this payment.

Notably, this is the first time VOS shareholders have received dividends since 2011, the Company paid for 2010, at a rate of 8%.

In fact, despite returning to paying dividends for 14 years, the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) recently decided to put VOS shares on the list of securities ineligible for margin trading because the undistributed profit after tax on the 2025 semi-annual audited consolidated financial statements is negative.

Regarding business activities , in the first half of 2025, Vosco recorded revenue of VND 1,297.93 billion, down 56.3% over the same period, after-tax profit recorded a loss of VND 43.57 billion compared to the same period of profit of VND 358.4 billion, down VND 401.97 billion.

It is worth noting that during the period, Vosco operated below cost price when gross profit was recorded at negative VND 1.67 billion compared to the same period of positive VND 80.89 billion, a decrease of VND 82.56 billion.

In addition, during the period, financial revenue increased by 10.3% over the same period, equivalent to an increase of VND 3.3 billion, to VND 35.24 billion; financial expenses increased by 208.8%, equivalent to an increase of VND 9.96 billion, to VND 14.73 billion; sales and business management expenses decreased by 20.1%, equivalent to a decrease of VND 15.41 billion, to VND 61.43 billion and other activities fluctuated insignificantly.

Thus, in the first half of 2025, with business operations below cost price, and also under pressure from financial, sales and business management costs, Vosco recorded a loss of VND 43.57 billion.

In 2025, Vosco plans to have revenue of 6,000 billion VND, a slight decrease of 0.8% over the same period, and pre-tax profit of 376 billion VND, a decrease of 10% over the same period.

Thus, ending the first half of 2025 with a pre-tax loss of up to VND 43.68 billion, Vosco is still far from its plan to make a profit in fiscal year 2025.

Notably, with the loss in the first half of 2025, as of June 30, 2025, Vosco officially recorded undistributed profit after tax of negative VND 26.55 billion, equal to 1.9% of charter capital (officially erasing all accumulated profits from many years ago).

In fact, Vosco's most recent accumulated loss was on December 31, 2021, when it recorded a loss of VND 387.8 billion and the Company officially had accumulated profits from 2022 to 2024.

Thus, after more than 3 years of erasing accumulated losses, Vosco returned to accumulated losses in the first half of 2025. At the same time, due to accumulated losses, the shares were put on the list of stocks not eligible for margin trading, or more precisely, investors can only invest in buying stocks with cash and cannot use loans from securities companies when investing in VOS shares.

In addition, in addition to writing off all accumulated interest, as of June 30, 2025, Vosco unexpectedly used a total of VND 589.4 billion in total debt (no debt was used at the beginning of the year), equal to 33.3% of total equity. Of which, short-term debt was VND 157.3 billion and long-term debt was VND 432.1 billion.

Regarding stocks, contrary to the market boom in recent months, VOS shares have tended to move sideways and even from August 13 to August 22, VOS shares have decreased by 15.6% compared to the peak, from VND 16,950 to VND 14,300/share and continued the downward trend.