# Vietnam Enterprise Investments NAV decreased 5.5% in September

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/vietnam-enterprise-investments-nav-decreased-5.5-in-september/4121129538
- Published: 2023-10-13T07:25:38+01:00
- Author: Amilia Stone

**Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited **(LON:VEIL) is a London-listed investment
company investing primarily in listed equities in Vietnam and a [FTSE 250](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/news/ftse-250)
constituent. The Company’s NAV performance for September 2023 is set out in this
notice.

**Company Performance

·    As of 30 September, VEIL’s NAV decreased 5.5% over the previous month against
a fall of 6.6% for its reference index, the Vietnam Index, both in total return 
USD terms. The Company’s NAV per share was US$8.85 and its total NAV was US$1.8bn.

·    VEIL’s share price decreased 5.6% in September and has risen 3.2% year-to-date,
both in USD terms.

·    VEIL’s three-month NAV per share performance in USD terms is +2.2%, +0.7% over
one year and +31.9% over three years. Over the same time periods, the performance
of the VNI was +0.4%, +1.7% and +27.1%, respectively.

·    In GBP terms, VEIL’s NAV decreased 1.8% over the previous month and has risen
11.0% year-to-date. The Company’s NAV per share was £7.25 as of 30 September and
its total NAV was £1.5bn. The GBP share price decreased by 2.0% for the month and
has increased 1.7% year-to-date.

·    The share price discount to NAV as of 30 September was 18.2%, compared with
18.1% at the end of August and 10.7% as of 31 December 2022.

·    The Company repurchased 1,158,987 shares in September, compared with 391,143
shares repurchased in August. Year-to-date to 30 September, 3,586,058 (1.7% of shares
outstanding as of 1 January 2023) have been repurchased.

·    The Vietnamese dong depreciated 0.9% against the USD in September and has depreciated
2.8% year-to-date. The VND appreciated 3.0% against the GBP in September and has
depreciated 4.1% year-to-date.

> **Dien Vu, Portfolio Manager of Vietnam Enterprise Investments commented:**
> “Vietnam’s Q3 2023 GDP growth registered at 5.3% year-on-year to make an overall
> increase of 4.2% in the first nine months of 2023 (following growth of 3.3% in
> Q1 and 4.1% in Q2). The Manager is currently expecting full year 2023 GDP growth
> of 5%, accelerating to 6.0-6.5% in 2024. Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of US
> $21.7bn in the first nine months of 2023 (a significant increase compared with
> US$6.8bn at the same stage of 2022), with exports and imports totalling US$259.7bn
> and US$238.0bn, down 8.2% and 13.8%, respectively.
> “The State Bank of Vietnam has lowered rates on four occasions this year to help
> boost domestic consumption, thus countering a slowdown in global demand, but the
> VND remains relatively stable due to disbursed FDI of US$15.9bn so far this year
> and the aforementioned trade surplus. Average CPI in the first nine months of 
> 2023 was 3.2%, below the Government’s 4.5% target.
> “The market witnessed early positive momentum in September, peaking at a near 
> one-year high of 1,245.5 points in the first and second weeks of the month. The
> market then succumbed to profit taking triggered by a blend of domestic and international
> pressures. Following US inflation data reporting a rise in inflation from 3.2%
> in July to 3.7% in August, the Federal Reserve hinted there could be more increases
> to come to combat inflation. As a result, bond yields surged to break 15-year 
> resistance levels as the market digested the ‘higher for longer’ narrative. As
> the US dollar index strengthened, Vietnam’s equity markets saw net foreign selling
> of US$165.8mn. A similar situation was also apparent in other countries in the
> region, with Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines recording outflows of US$
> 616mn, US$263mn and US$464mn, respectively.
> “With the exception of energy, all sectors in the listed market declined in value
> during September, we believe because local investors feared that the easing of
> domestic monetary conditions could not be sustained and chose to reduce risk. 
> Market sentiment was further dampened by the State Bank of Vietnam issuing US$
> 5.7bn of bills, and major brokers scaled back on margin lending. Trading volumes
> trailed off at the end of the month yet average daily turnover in September still
> averaged US$1.1bn, the sixth consecutive monthly rise.
> “Property stocks had another difficult month, this was attributed to a major developer(
> not in the VEIL portfolio) continuing to struggle with bond restructuring, and
> because of lowered expectations of how soon further interest rate cuts might happen.
> Both mid and large-cap property stocks were impacted, including VEIL top-ten holdings
> Vinhomes (“VHM”) and Khang Dien House (“KDH”) despite their solid track records
> through market cycles. Both possess strong balance sheets and have low debt to
> equity ratios of 0.3-0.4x as well as large land banks and strong ready-to-launch
> pipelines.”

**Top Ten Holdings (61.6% of NAV)**

|  | **Company** | **Sector** | **NAV %** | **VNI %** | **Monthly Return %** | **One-year Return %** | 
| 1 | Vietnam Prosperity Bank | Banks | 11.1 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 18.2 | 
| 2 | Hoa Phat Group | Materials/Resources | 8.7 | 3.4 | -5.7 | 21.6 | 
| 3 | Vietcombank | Banks | 7.6 | 10.9 | -2.8 | 38.4 | 
| 4 | Asia Commercial Bank | Banks | 7.4 | 1.9 | -4.3 | 15.5 | 
| 5 | Mobile World Group | Retail | 6.2 | 1.7 | -3.2 | -18.7 | 
| 6 | FPT Corporation | Software/Services | 5.7 | 2.6 | -5.0 | 33.0 | 
| 7 | PetroVietnam Gas | Energy | 4.4 | 3.9 | 9.3 | 0.5 | 
| 8 | Vinhomes | Real Estate | 3.9 | 4.4 | -17.7 | -12.0 | 
| 9 | Vinamilk | Food & Beverage | 3.5 | 3.4 | -5.6 | 5.9 | 
| 10 | Khang Dien House | Real Estate | 3.1 | 0.5 | -12.7 | 14.1 | 
|  | 
| _ _ | _Vietnam Index_ | _–_ | _ _ | _–_ | _-6.6_ | _1.7_ |

_Source: Bloomberg, Dragon Capital_

_NB: All returns are given in USD terms_

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