Bourse limits trading in Vietnam Airlines due to losses

Shares in Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi) will only be traded in afternoon sessions from November 3, as the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange transfers them from warning status to controlled status effective from that date.

The bourse explained in a filing that the embattled flag carrier’s accumulated loss had reached VND17.8 trillion dong (USD782 million) as of the end of June, exceeding its contributed charter capital.

As previously reported, the 86% state-owned flag carrier pleaded to the government one month ago to give it temporary special status to maintain its listing, aware that its stock could be suspended because of six consecutive quarters of heavy losses. Its accumulated loss exceeds its charter capital – the sum contributed by all shareholders – by more than VND2.75 trillion (USD121 million).

According to Viet Nam’s Law on Securities, if an enterprise experiences a total accumulated loss higher than its charter capital that is “actually contributed or in the audited financial statements of the year before the time of consideration,” it should automatically be delisted.

As part of a VND12 trillion (USD527 million) rescue package approved by the National Assembly last year, Vietnam Airlines issued new shares worth VND8 trillion (USD351 million) to existing shareholders to raise capital and signed deals in July for loans worth VND4 trillion (USD176 million) from three local banks.