VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited (LON:VOF) has announced its audited results for the year ended 30 June 2025.
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2025
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited1 is a Guernsey domiciled closed-ended investment company. The Company is classified as a registered closed-ended Collective Investment Scheme under the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020 and is subject to The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 as amended. The Company is managed by VinaCapital Investment Management Ltd2 as its manager and Aztec Financial Services (Guernsey) Limited as administrator and corporate secretary.
Investment Objective
The Company’s objective is to achieve medium to long-term returns through investment in assets either in Vietnam or in companies with a substantial majority of their assets, operations, revenues, or income in, or derived from, Vietnam.
Investment Strategy
VOF’s investment strategy is, as its name suggests, an opportunity fund which seeks differentiated investments by adopting a private equity approach, using a unique combination of the skills of the team and the scale of the fund to negotiate terms and conditions not readily available to other investors.
The Company’s strategy allows VinaCapital, which has been managing investments on the ground in Vietnam for over 20 years, to navigate the limitations of Vietnam’s fundamentally illiquid market. Thorough due diligence allows us to identify high quality companies, in which we seek to negotiate significant positions where we can influence the direction of the investee company and have terms that provide downside protection without limiting the upside potential.
Approximately 80% of the portfolio has been entered into through a privately negotiated process over the years and this strategy has proven particularly effective in navigating the challenges and managing the inherent risks of investing in Vietnam, while seeking to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns over the long-term for VOF’s investors.
Investment Policy
All of the Company’s investments will be in Vietnam or in companies with at least 75% of their assets, operations, revenues or income in, or derived from, Vietnam at the time of investment.
| · | No single investment may exceed 20% of the NAV of the Company at the time of investment. |
| · | The Company may from time to time invest in other funds focused on Vietnam. This includes investments in other funds managed by the Investment Manager. Any investment or divestment of funds managed by the Investment Manager will be subject to prior approval by the Board. |
| · | The Company may from time to time make co-investments alongside other investors in private equity, real estate, or similar assets. This includes, but is not restricted to, co-investments alongside other funds managed by the Investment Manager. |
| · | The Company will not invest in other listed closed-ended funds. |
The Company may gear its assets through borrowings which may vary over time according to market conditions and any or all of the assets of the Company may be pledged as security for such borrowings. Borrowings will not exceed 10% of the Company’s total assets at the time that any debt is drawn down.
From time to time the Company may hold cash or low risk instruments such as government bonds or cash funds denominated in either VND or USD, either in Vietnam or outside Vietnam.
1 VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd is also referred to as “the Company” or “VOF” throughout this Annual Report and Financial Statements.
2 VinaCapital Investment Management is also referred to as “the Investment Manager” throughout this Annual Report and Financial Statements.
HISTORICAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION
| As at 30 June | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |||
| Share information | ||||||||
| Share price (USD)1 | 6.64 | 5.79 | 5.46 | 6.26 | 5.77 | |||
| Share price (GBP)1 | 4.82 | 4.76 | 4.29 | 4.96 | 4.21 | |||
| Net asset value per ordinary share (USD)1 | 8.07 | 7.22 | 7.02 | 7.43 | 7.13 | |||
| Net asset value per ordinary share (GBP)1 | 5.85 | 5.93 | 5.52 | 5.88 | 5.20 | |||
1Alternative performance measure
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
In the year to 30 June 2025, the Company’s NAV per share decreased in US Dollar terms by 4.0% to USD7.13, and the share price decreased by 7.8% to USD5.77. Taking account of dividends paid in the year to 30 June 2025, the NAV Total Return in USD terms was -2.2%.
| As at years ended 30 June | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| NAV total return1 (%) | 65.6 | (8.8) | (0.4) | 7.8 | (2.2) |
| Share Price total return2 (%) | 66.9 | 1.1 | (3.1) | 17.6 | (5.3) |
| Dividend per share (US cents) | 11.5 | 16.0 | 14.25 | 14.25 | 14.5 |
1 Expressed in percentage terms, is a measure of the investment return earned by the Company, calculated by taking the change in the NAV over the period in question and dividing by the starting NAV. This assumes that any dividends paid in the period are reinvested at the prevailing NAV per share on the ex-dividend date and that the dividend would grow at the same rate of return as the NAV per share after re-investment. A numerical reconciliation of the NAV total return can be found in the alternative performance measures section of this report. This footnote applies to all disclosures of NAV Total Return throughout this Annual Report and Financial Statements. Please also refer to the Alternative Performance Measures.
2 Expressed in percentage terms, is a measure of the return to shareholders, calculated by taking the change in the share price over the period in question and dividing by the starting share price. This assumes that any dividends paid in the period are reinvested at the prevailing share price on the ex-dividend date and that the dividend would grow at the same rate of return as the share price after re-investment. The Share Price total return is provided by an independent third-party provider of investment statistics – see glossary. This footnote applies to all disclosures of Share Price total return throughout this Annual Report and Financial Statements.
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
Dear Shareholder,
It is my privilege to write to you again to present the results of the Company for the year ended 30 June 2025.
Performance
The economic growth story in Vietnam remains exciting and compelling. As a frontier market, the stock market remains volatile and, in the period under review, the announcement on 2 April 2025 of increased tariffs on exports to the US caused a significant market correction. Since then, however, the VN Index had increased by some 50% to the end of September. Against that background, in USD terms VOF’s NAV per share over the 12 months to 30 June 2025 declined marginally. When combined with the weakening of the dollar against sterling over the year, the GBP NAV per share fell by 9.7%1 and, with a widening discount, the GBP share price fell by 12.7%1.
A disappointment in the private equity portfolio was in the performance of IN Holdings, the conference centre and wedding venue operator. Since a post-COVID recovery, the centres have faced a challenging environment and the valuations of VOF’s investment in IN Holdings has been reduced substantially. There were more positive developments at a number of the other private equity portfolio investments, including with NovaGroup, where an asset swap was secured resulting in a significant write-up of the value of the investment. At the financial year-end, the overall carrying value of the Company’s private equity and unquoted financial instruments with quoted companies was written down by USD6.8m.
Although the results for the year might be a disappointment, performance in the first three months of the current financial year has shown a substantial improvement with the NAV per share up by 12.4% and the share price improving by 13.3%, both in USD terms.
Dividends
Recognising that many shareholders value a regular income, our policy is to pay out dividends of approximately 1% of NAV per share, twice each year and normally declared in March and October. In March 2025, we declared a dividend of 7.25 US cents per share and the Board has today declared a maintained dividend of 7.25 US cents per share. This will be payable to shareholders on or around 3 December 2025.
Over time, regular dividends can represent a significant return of capital to investors. Since VOF first paid a dividend in September 2017, it has distributed in total 107.35 US cents per share. An investor who bought a share at the market price of USD3.82 at the 30 June 2017 year-end will have received dividends totalling 114.6 US cents per share by the end of December this year, a return of 30% of their investment, while the market price of their shares at the end of June this year was USD5.77, an increase of 51%.
Borrowings
In April 2025, the Company increased the upper limit on its revolving credit facility with Standard Chartered Bank to USD60 million and has extended the maturity date to 30 May 2027. The facility provides an additional source of short-term liquidity for the Investment Manager, particularly as it manages the Company’s cash flows on both implementing and realising investments in private equity and other illiquid instruments.
1 On a total return basis. See Alternative Performance Measures
Marketing and share buybacks
We continue actively to promote the Company. Our Investment Manager makes great efforts to encourage investment and is assisted by our joint brokers, Deutsche Numis and Barclays Bank and distribution partner, Cadarn Capital which provides investor engagement services. A wide variety of information is available to existing and potential investors with the aim of stimulating demand for the shares: a detailed fact sheet is issued each month and regular updates on the Vietnamese market and economy in both written and video form are posted to our website. It is a testament to its quality that the Company’s fact sheet was awarded Best Factsheet in the AIC annual awards earlier this month. You can sign up to be notified of new publications at https://vof.vinacapital.com and I particularly recommend the video updates, which really help bring the case for investment to life.
In common with much of the closed-end fund sector, the discount was under pressure for a large proportion of the year under review and the Company has renewed its efforts to manage the discount through share buybacks. During the year, 16.8 million shares were bought back at a cost of USD96.78 million, which was 11.05% of shares in issue at the start of the period. The discounts at which these shares were bought resulted in an increase in the NAV of some 21.3 US cents per share to the benefit of continuing shareholders and, the Directors believe, helped to control the volatility of the discount.
We will continue to publicise the long-term potential of investment in Vietnam and the benefits of the Company’s unique approach to investing and will continue to use share buybacks where we believe that these are in the best interests of the shareholders.
The Board
The Board was very pleased to welcome Charlotta Ginman who was appointed as Director on 2 January 2025. Charlotta is a Chartered Accountant and held investment banking roles with UBS, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan before moving on to senior finance roles with Nokia and Vertu. After a successful executive career, she has now made the transition to Non-Executive Director roles with a broad range of international companies. Charlotta has already made a significant contribution to the Board and is working closely with Julian Healy on the Audit Committee. She will take over the Chair of the Audit Committee on 3 December 2025 following this year’s AGM.
For my part, I have now been on the Board for over nine years and, under best corporate governance practice, the time has come for me to retire from the Board. Accordingly, I will not be putting myself forward for re-election at the AGM in December. When I retire, the chair will be taken over by Kathryn Matthews who, given her experience, will be a very capable replacement.
Change in Administrator and Company Secretary
For the past seven years, company secretarial and other administrative functions have been carried out in Guernsey by Aztec Financial Services (Guernsey) Limited. During the year, the Company put these services out to tender and, from close of business on 4 November 2025, the new administrators and Company Secretary will be NSM Funds Limited. This should have very little direct impact on shareholders but, following the change, the Registered Office of the Company will move and the AGM in December will be held at NSM’s offices.
Annual General Meeting
All of the Resolutions proposed at the AGM held on 5 December 2024 were passed in line with the Board’s recommendations.
This year’s AGM will take place on 3 December 2025 at NSM Funds Limited, Les Echelons Court, Les Echelons, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 1AR. Notice of the AGM is sent to registered shareholders with the Annual Report and Financial Statements.
Outlook
The performance of the Vietnam stock exchange tends to be driven by domestic investor sentiment. Over the period I have been on the Board, my experience of investing in Vietnam has been of occasional bursts of extraordinary activity followed by years of consolidation. After a period of post-COVID recovery followed by a credit crunch in the property sector, to my eyes it looks as though the confidence of local investors in the stock market is beginning to return and the encouraging performance since June could presage a strong year. The recent recognition of Vietnam as an Emerging Market by FTSE Russell will also remind international investors of the increasing importance of this market.
Over the medium to long term, the Board believes that the Vietnamese economy will grow substantially and will continue to offer interesting and rewarding investment opportunities for long-term investors I, for one, will continue to hold my shares in the Company in the expectation of growth in my retirement.
I would like to thank shareholders for their support over my time on the Board.
Huw Evans
Chairman
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited
23 October 2025
