That is from Mr. Pham Minh Tuan - Vice Chairman of Bamboo Capital Joint Stock Company (HoSE: BCG) when asked about trends in the stock market in the coming years. Mr. Tuan is quite confident about the potential growth of BCG and is not worried about the recent stock market fluctuations.
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan – Vice Chairman of Bamboo Capital Joint Stock Company
2021 can be considered a quite successful year for BCG, amid COVID-19 pandemic causing many uphill struggles, BCG still achieved the target profit and signed many contracts with international partners. Here is the fascinating conversation of Investor Magazine (Tạp chí Nhà Đầu Tư) with Mr. Pham Minh Tuan.
Recently, the story of stocks in FLC family has been quite "hot". What do you think when some investors mistakenly believe that Bamboo Capital is related to the FLC ecosystem?
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan said “We have received a number of questions from investors, so I also want to clarify. Perhaps because FLC Group has Bamboo Airways, which is somewhat similar to Bamboo Capital, so some investors mistakenly believe that we are related. Bamboo Capital was established in 2011, our original name was Thu Phu Tre Joint Stock Company, which then was changed to Bamboo Capital. We are operating in the fields of renewable energy, infrastructure - construction, real estate, trading - manufacturing and finance - insurance. We and FLC Group are definitely unrelated.”
So with many years of experience working in the financial sector, how would you identify the stock market trends in the coming years? How about BCG and TCD in the near future?
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan: “Recently, many incidents such as Tan Hoang Minh Group, whose subsidiary Viet Star Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd has cancelled a contract to buy the land lot in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in Thu Duc City in spite of losing its deposit of nearly VND600 billion, or the sell-off of FLC stocks have affected investor psychology. As a result the stock market has shaken. In my opinion, it is just temporary. It is also an opportunity for investors to look back, analyze the market to recognize real investment opportunities, in stead of rushing into speculative stocks. The market might will rebound sharply after falling to its lowest point.
Moreover, BCG and TCD are in the group of businesses that benefit from policies which encourage clean energy development and infrastructure investment. I believe that the company's effective business strategy coupled with favorable macroeconomic factors will help BCG, TCD as well as the stock market keep stable growth.”
At this time, investors are probably looking forward to BCG's financial results of 2021 fiscal year. Can you tell us about some of the achievements?
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan said “2021 is a turbulent year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BCG had to face some difficulties. Fortunately, we had been well prepared and flexible to respond to the pandemic, as a result the 2021 planned profit was achieved, even exceeded. We was still able to mobilize capital. BCG is cooperating with international partners such as SP Group (Singapore Power Group), Sembcorp Utilities and Leader Energy to jointly invest in renewable energy projects of BCG Energy.
By accomplishing the targeted amount of profit in trying times, BCG ensured the benefits of all employees and the resources to support communities, especially funds, vaccines for the prevention of COVID-19. We are very proud that BCG Foundation charity fund has donated more than 100 billion VND for charity.”
Can you share with us about the progress of under-construction real estate projects?
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan "BCG Land had 7 projects under construction in 2021. We had to halt construction for sometime due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as soon as the situation got better, BCG did everything possible to accelerate project construction in order to keep them stay on schedules.
In 2022, BCG Land is expected to hand over the Malibu Hoi An, complete a part of the Hoi An D'or, build the rest of the King Crown Thao Dien project and continue the construction of the King Crown Infinity project. We are expecting the real estate segment to be the major contributor to BCG's revenue this year”.
In the field of renewable energy and construction - infrastructure, what did BCG Energy and Tracodi achieve last year, sir?
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan: “In 2021, BCG Energy successfully completed phase 1 (216/330MW) of Phu My, which is the largest solar power plant in Binh Dinh province. Currently, BCG Energy is generating 520 MW of solar energy from BCG Vinh Long, BCG CME Long An 1, BCG CME Long An 2 and Phu My Solar Plants. These energy projects are generating stable cash flow for BCG and it will increase annually.
Also in 2021, BCG Energy signed many business cooperation contracts with a number of major international partners such as SP Group to jointly develop 500MW capacity of rooftop solar power in Vietnamese industrial parks. We have also partnered with Sembcorp Utilities, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) to develop 1.5 GW of renewable energy in Vietnam over the next few years. This year, BCG Energy is aiming to complete 550MW of wind power in the Mekong Delta provinces.
In the field of construction - infrastructure, Tracodi - subsidiary of BCG is reporting optimistic business performance. The third quarter of 2021, Tracodi had almost completed its 2021 target after-tax profit. Specifically, accumulated in the first 9 months, net revenue reached VND 2,101 billion, up 30% over the same period, after-tax profit reached 280 billion dong, 5 times higher than the same period the prior year, which means completing 65.6% of the target revenue, 92% of the planned before-tax profit and completing the target after-tax profit. We believe that in 2022, Tracodi will achieve even better financial performance, it is expected to grow 20% compared to last year.”
Besides Tracodi already listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, has BCG planned to list any subsidiaries on the stock market in the near future?
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan “Nguyen Hoang Joint Stock Company is a key member, which joined the ecosystem of BCG Group earlier than any others. At Nguyen Hoang's Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders in December 2021, we announced the goal of listing Nguyen Hoang on Upcom in 2022. BCG determined Nguyen Hoang's business orientation to become a large-scale manufacturing corporation. According to the 2022 business plan, Nguyen Hoang is expected to set a target of VND 650 billion in revenue and VND 60 billion in profit.
With AAA Insurance Joint Stock Company, which BCG and BCG Financial have just become the two largest shareholders, we aim to restructure, improve productivity and list AAA on the stock market within the next 3 years. I believe that after the restructuring, its strengths will couple with understanding of the domestic market helps AAA to transform into a completely different version”.
Did the establishment of BCG Financial and the acquisition of AAA Insurance Joint Stock Company mean BCG taking advantage of opportunities or a part of BCG's plans?
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan: “Becoming a sustainable multi-industry corporation was the vision from the very beginning of BCG. Despite different business areas, they must support each other.
Establishing BCG Financial, investing in a bank, securities or the acquisition were not a sudden unexpected move to take advantage of opportunities from the market but a plan of BCG for a long time. During the past 10 years, BCG has gradually built a management system, improved the quality of human resources, and carefully determined the capital requirement. The expansion into financial services - insurance sectors looked like a “forey into other fields", but in fact it was meant to complete the big business picture of BCG. With the establishment of BCG Financial and AAA Insurance acquisition, BCG has the final piece of the puzzle as financial foundation to complete its multi-industry ecosystem and support its customers”.
BCG is indeed an ambitious corporation, often after extraordinary business goals. At Bamboo Capital's General Meeting of Shareholders in 2021, you once said you would create an IPO of BCG Energy in the international market. So when will the IPO plan take place?
Mr. Pham Minh Tuan: “According to our initial plan, when BCG Energy’s achieved a capacity of 1.5-2 KWh, it will go public. According to the current situation, it will be between 2024-2025.
Currently, renewable energy sector is facing difficulties regarding macro policies. However, we believe that this is temporary, because Net Zero Emissions is the goal of the entire world, Vietnam will not be out of this race. We believe that with Vietnam's commitment at COP26 and the Government's policies on energy development and investment promotion, BCG Energy will be able to keep the plan on schedule. At Bamboo Capital, we often remind each other: “You must dare to dream big to achieve bigger”.