Nearly 40 percent of listed firms on Vietnamese stock exchanges are likely to receive the highest mark in creditworthiness for 2007 from the Credit Information Centre.


The centre made the announcement on September 1 to the media in preparation for the actual awards later this month. The ratings, handed out annually, have turned into a reference for investors in securities investment.


In ratings implemented this year, about 117 of 293 listed firms in both the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and Hanoi Securities Trading Centre, excluding credit institutions and investment funds, will receive the highest ranking of “AAA”.


The 170 other firms will be classified as having a “good creditworthiness level” somewhere between “AAA” and “BBB”. The remaining will be marked at an average level.


“Listed firms last year performed better with credit than they did in 2006, evident in the higher number of firms with improved ratings,” said the centre’s deputy director Dao Quang Thong.


Thong also said that enterprises listed in the southern market made up the majority of upgraded firms, compared to the HASTC’s listed companies.


“In business sectors, firms dealing in trading typically were ranked at the highest level AAA, followed by firms in consumer goods production and firms working in construction and property,” added Thong.


The Credit Information Centre, a partner of the global leading creditworthiness rating corporation Dun&Bradstreet, began ranking listed firms in Vietnamese stock market in 2007, and also introduced a guide to assess listed companies.


The centre evaluates companies’ credibility based on three criterion systems, including Sate-audited financial reports, banking loans and non-financial services.


Based on these areas, the centre assigns a grade ranging from “AAA” to the lowest rating “C”.