Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company, Vietnam’s biggest listed property company, expects pretax earnings to increase 58 percent as its iron-ore mines start generating “large” profits.
The company, owned by Vietnam’s richest man, Doan Nguyen Duc, expects earnings to increase to VND2.7 trillion ($146 million) next year, up from VND1.7 trillion in 2009, according to a statement on its website Tuesday. Profits from properties already sold will boost earnings next year, it said.
“Even if the market continues to slow down, Hoang Anh Gia Lai will easily achieve this profit target,” the company, based in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, said in the statement. “If the economy recovers, other property projects will raise our pretax profit to more than VND3 trillion.”
Hoang Anh Gia Lai rose 4.6 percent to close at a one-month high of 69,000 dong on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange. Its shares have rallied 107 percent from its debut a year ago, compared with a 53 percent gain in the benchmark VN Index.
The company plans to buy back 5 million shares, according to the statement, without stating a timeframe. It currently has 270 million shares outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In 2010, Hoang Anh Gia Lai will start constructing an office building and two other residential projects in Ho Chi Minh City, the statement said. It will also plant 9,000 hectares (22,240 acres) of rubber in Vietnam and Laos.
The company will invest more in its iron-ore mines in Cambodia and Laos, build a 100-megawatt hydropower plant in Laos, and two other hydropower plants in Vietnam. The Vietnam hydropower plants, with a combined capacity of 42 megawatts, will generate power for sale from the second quarter, the statement said.