HÀ NỘI — Six companies debuted their shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) on Thursday, with a total of 495.6 million shares listed on the exchange worth nearly VNĐ5 trillion (US$219.3 million).

Quảng Ninh Thermal Power Joint Stock Company (sticker QTP) is the largest listing with 450 million shares, equivalent to charter capital of VNĐ4.5 trillion ($197.4 million).

QTP shares hit the maximum rise of 40 per cent for the first trading day on the UPCoM at VNĐ15,900 ($0.70) per share.

Founded in 2002 in the northern province of Quảng Ninh, which has the largest coal reserve in Việt Nam, the company is the investor of the Quảng Ninh Power Station, one of the largest thermal power stations in the country.

The project consists of Quảng Ninh 1 and Quảng Ninh 2 with total capacity of 1,200MW, producing 7.2 billion kWh per year.

The company posted VNĐ366 billion in profits last year, reducing its accumulated loss to nearly VNĐ1.5 trillion. Due to heavy investment in the power station, its financial loans reached VNĐ11.2 trillion by end-2016.

The other five companies that made their debut are Power Investment-Trade-Service JSC (EIN) with listing of 30.4 million shares, Hà Tĩnh Pharmaceutical JSC (HDP) with 5.9 million shares, metal manufacturer Trúc Thôn JSC (TRT) with 5.5 million shares, Hải Phòng Cửa Cấm Port JSC (CCP) with 2.4 million shares and Hà Ninh Railway JSC (RHN) with 1.5 million shares.

Share price of each company ranges between VNĐ10,000 and VNĐ20,000 per share.

EIN and CCP dropped 2.9 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively, while the others closed unchanged.

500 listings milestone

UPCoM is the official market for unlisted companies under the management of the Hà Nội Stock Exchange. The market has witnessed significant development in the last two years with over 330 companies trading on it since 2015.

With these six listings on Thursday, the number of companies traded on UPCoM has reached 500, a 50-fold increase over the initial number of just 10 enterprises when the market went live on June 24, 2009.

Market capitalisation reached VNĐ423 trillion ($18.5 billion), with daily trading value averaging VNĐ204 billion in the first two months of this year.

According to the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the rapid development can be attributed to the Government’s policy which has tied equitisation of State-owned enterprises with compulsory trading on the UPCoM.

In addition, the northern bourse has also implemented many solutions to raise the attractiveness of the market, including expanding the trading band from +/-10 per cent to +/-15 per cent, building the UPCoM Premium list and creating a warning stock list to improve transparency and protect investor rights and interests. — VNS