Rice, Motorcycle Trader Angimex Sees Q4 Vietnam Listing

Angimex, based in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, secured the listing licence on Sept. 14 and has three months to complete the listing, Chairman Cao Minh Lam said in a statement.



The firm will list all its 18.2 million shares, having set the debut price at 20,000 dong (US$0.96) each, Lam said, giving the company a valuation of $17.5 million.



Angimex, one of Vietnam”s top 10 rice exporters in 2011 by export revenue, said in its prospectus the export of 195,000 tonnes contributed 74 percent of net revenue last year, while nearly 26 percent came from selling Honda motorcycles and spare parts.



An Angimex listing would raise capital on the Ho Chi Minh Exchange which in April was Asia”s best performing bourse and as the country is poised to overtake Thailand to become the world”s top rice exporter in 2012.



Rice is Vietnam”s top farm export, generating $3.64 billion in earnings last year.



The VN Index lost 1.8 percent to close at 394.51 points on Tuesday, having advanced 12.2 percent since the end of 2011.



Angimex said its net profit this year could drop 23 percent from 2011 to 54 billion dong as Vietnamese rice faced strong competition from grain exports by India and nearby Myanmar.



In 2011 Angimex enjoyed a 30-percent reduction in its corporate income tax as part of a government stimulus package, the prospectus said, adding that China”s demand for rice in 2012 could help Vietnam offset a fall in other importing markets.



Angimex has forecast rice exports in 2012 to rise nearly 13 percent to 220,000 tonnes, or 3 percent of Vietnam”s total of 7.2 million tonnes, by expanding sales of high-quality rice in Hong Kong, Singapore and China.



China has emerged as Vietnam”s biggest rice buyer this year, with January-July imports surging four-fold to 1.34 million tonnes from a year ago, the Agriculture Ministry said. The northern neighbour could buy 2 million tonnes from Vietnam this year.