HÀ NỘI — Ceramic manufacturer Viglacera Corporation (VGC) has posted a pre-tax profit of VNĐ534 billion in the first half of 2017, up 64 per cent year on year.

Its net revenue was VNĐ3.87 trillion (US$170 million), up 2.7 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2016.

The company put up 120 million shares for sale, equivalent to 39 per cent of the total outstanding shares, on Hà Nội Stock Exchange on May 29, at a starting rate of VNĐ12,300 per share.

After the auction, State ownership of VGC dropped from 78.8 per cent to 56.7 per cent. Foreign investors showed interest in VGC’s shares, picking up 110 million, or 91.65 per cent, of the total offered shares.

The auction helped VGC increase its chartered capital from VNĐ3.9 trillion to VNĐ4.4 trillion.

The company plans to issue five per cent of its shares under the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), in Q3 this year and reduce state ownership to 54 per cent. After 2020, VGC intends to reduce state ownership to 36 per cent.

The company collected nearly VNĐ1.5 trillion from the public sale, which will be used mainly to invest in the expansion of Yên Phong Industrial Park and to develop the new ultra-white float glass manufacturing factory and sanitaryware plant in the southern province of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu.

VGC currently operates two float glass factories, one in the northern province of Bắc Ninh and the other in the southern province of Bình Dương, with a combined capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day, which accounts for 45 per cent of the company’s capacity.

In sanitaryware, VGC is focused on the mid-end segment, and has a total capacity of 1.25 million sanitary appliances and 500,000 shower sets per year. This segment has recorded an average annual growth of 19.6 per cent from 2010 to 2015, and current production is at maximum capacity.

The company plans to build a sanitaryware factory in Vũng Tàu with a capacity of 750,000 products per year, which would increase its total capacity to 2 million products per year.

For its granite and ceramic requirements, VGC has three subsidiaries that have a combined capacity of 20 million sqm per year. Also, it has just acquired the Mỹ Đức ceramic factory in the southern province of Vũng Tàu. The plant’s first production line became operational this June.

In the 2017-2020 period, the company plans to set up three more ceramic plants and increase its total capacity to 34 million sq.m, up 70 per cent. — VNS