Vietnam - Bianfishco would be rescued?

VietNamNet Bridge – Bianfishco’s General Director Tran Van Tri has stated that the seafood company has got a bail which would help the company revive. However, doubts still have been raised about the fate of Bianfishco.

>> Debt-beleaguered Bianfishco resumes operation 

Tri, at a press conference held late last week, officially introduced the partner, who has agreed to pump 500 billion dong to help Binafishco recover. The noble man is Tran Kim Minh , President and CEO of the Construction and Transport Work Joint Stock Company No. 584 (NTB), headquartered in Tan Phu district of HCM City.

At the press conference, Minh said he visited Pham Thi Dieu Hien, the wife of Tri, who was President and General Director of Bianfishco before she left Vietnam for Singapore for medical treatment, at a hospital in Fountain Valley in California state in the US.

“Hien told me that Bianfishco signed a contract with a big partner – Costco – a wholesale supermarket in the US – on exporting 1000 containers of tra fillet products, worth 100 million dollars. However, the company may have to break the contract due to the current difficulties,” Minh said.

“I know that this is a big contract, while Bianfishco has been well-known in the US. It would be a big waste if Bianfishco cannot fulfill the order,” he continued. “Therefore, after a meeting with the board of directors, I decided to inject 500 billion dong in Bianfishco to help the company resume production.”

With the new capital source, Bianfishco hopes to fulfill the order and make deliveries to the partner by the end of 2012.

Also according to Minh, of the sum of 500 billion dong poured into Bianfishco, only 30 percent is his company’s capital, while the remaining is the loan from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam BIDV.

Tri has affirmed that Bianfishco has sold some assets to pay debts to An Binh Bank. Therefore, the bank has opened a new credit package to fund the fish collection from farmers.

As for the debts owing by Bianfishco to farmers, worth 40 billion dong, Tri has committed to pay a half of the sum by the end of May, and then, together with the Debt and Asset Trade Corporation (DATC) to pay up later.

Bianfishco has resumed its production after a period of interruption, having gathered 1200 workers. In order to churn out 1000 containers of tra fish fillet products, Bianfishco would need some 4000 workers and produce 450 tons of tra fish every day.

The information proves to be the good news not only for Bianfishco, but for the whole seafood industry, which has been in distress in the last many months.

However, local newspapers have later discovered that the company, which accepted to inject money to rescue Bianfishco, turns out to be a company with many problems.

Minh stated at the press conference that his company injects 150 billion dong in Bianfishco. However, the cash balance of the company by March 31, 2012 was 616 million dong only.

A finance report of the holding company showed that NTB made a modest profit of 500 million dong in the first quarter of 2012. The company’s short term assets by March 31 had reached 1300 billion dong. However, of this amount, 1130 billion dong worth of assets (85 percent) are inventory items, which are not finished products, but just half-finished ones.

The report on consolidated business result in 2011 showed that NTB incurred the loss of 1.4 billion dong, mostly because of the 30 percent increase in the costs for the real estate trade and the costs for loan interests reaching 113 billion dong.

The company asked for the delay in dividend payment three times in 2010, and then decided to pay dividend in shares. NTB shares were given warning on February 24, while the company had to pay the fine of 70 million dong due to the late finance report submission.

Source: Dat Viet

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