Vietnam Holding Limited – Building on firmer foundations

Vietnam Holding (VNH) has put in a decent performance in NAV total return terms versus its emerging Asia peers (see page 24), but this has not been reflected in its share price. The manager says that Vietnam’s long-term structural growth drivers look to be intact (see manger’s view on page 6) and, according to the IMF’s most recent World Economic Outlook, Vietnam’s GDP is expected to grow at 6.7% a year through to 2028. There was a meltdown in the corporate bond market last year, which affected the property sector and, while the government moved to address these issues and stabilised the currency, it appears that poor sentiment continues to weigh on the market, which may offer an opportunity.

VNH’s board has been authorising modest share repurchases to provide liquidity, taking advantage of the recent high-teens discount (see page 28).