Despite last year’s poor results and the continuing recession, telecom equipment manufacturer Vien Lien Joint Stock Co. and confectionery company Kinh Do Group have promised to pay high dividends this year.


Vien Lien last year made a pretax profit of VND1.37 billion (US$77,031), or VND342 per share, an 84 percent fall from the previous year.


The Ho Chi Minh City-based company paid just VND300 a share as dividend last year against an expected VND2,000.


Though its projected 2009 figures are virtually the same as last year’s - net profit of VND5 billion on revenues of VND70 billion – the company surprised shareholders at the annual meeting by announcing it would pay a dividend of VND2,700 this year, including last year’s VND1,700.


The company also said it sold its entire 49 percent stake in unlisted Vien Dong Design and Construction Joint Stock Co for VND15 billion, but did not reveal the name of the buyer.


Vien Lien will also move to the smaller bourse in Hanoi since its chartered capital of VND47 billion does not meet the HCMC exchange’s requirement of at least VND80 billion.


Kinh Do Corp., a producer of baked goods and candy, has said it will pay a 24 percent dividend this year.


It posted a net loss of VND60.6 billion last year due to its writedown of securities worth around VND256 billion.


Kinh Do forecast sales to rise 9 percent to VND1.72 trillion and profit to VND256 billion.


It reported a first quarter profit of VND21 billion ($1.2 million), down 60 percent from a year earlier, Bloomberg quoted Le Phung Hao, the company’s deputy general director, as saying.


This year’s peak season during the Lunar New Year Festival came earlier than last year and so much of Kinh Do’s sales for the season took place in December, Hao said. The Ho Chi Minh City-based company’s sales this year have also been hurt by the domestic economic slowdown, he said.