ACV seeks to earn $4.83 million from divestment

Southern Airports Services Joint Stock Company (SASCO) is listed under code SAS on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM). SASCO operates in the airport services business and holds the largest market share in supplying products and services at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Viet Nam’s largest airport by number of passengers. - Photo cafef.vn

ACV currently holds 67 million shares of Sasco, equal to 51 per cent of the airport services provider’s chartered capital. ACV plans to sell the four million shares between December 6 and January 4.

SASCO is listed under code SAS on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM). The company’s shares were up 2.2 per cent yesterday to close at VND27,500 per share.

SASCO operates in the airport services business and holds the largest market share in supplying products and services at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Viet Nam’s largest airport by the number of passengers.

In 2015, Tan Son Nhat International Airport received more than 26 million passengers, slightly higher than the airport’s registered capacity of 25 million passengers per year. In the first nine months of this year, the southern international airport received some 24 million passengers, an increase of 24 per cent from the previous corresponding period.

SASCO’s main products and services include duty-free products, arts & crafts, local specialties and business lounges, as well as food and beverages, travel, transportation and advertising services.

Of these main business activities, selling duty-free products and renting business lounges generated the highest profits for SASCO, with total profit of VND120 billion in 2015.

SASCO has the comparative advantage over competitors in the duty-free products sector as it is supported by strategic partner Imex Pan Pacific Group, which holds 80 per cent market share in domestic high-end fashion.

In the first nine months of 2016, SASCO earned VND1.54 trillion in revenue, a yearly increase of 4 per cent, and VND169 billion in profits, an increase of 12 per cent year-on-year.

In the mid-term period, the expansion of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which is expected to be completed in 2018, will increase the airport’s passenger capacity by 60 per cent to 40 million passengers per year. That will help SASCO improve its income and profits in the next three to five years.

SASCO will also have an opportunity to expand its market when it becomes the largest service provider at Long Thanh International Airport, which is scheduled to become operational in 2025.