Listed companies have been better in complying with information disclosure requirements, improving the transparency of Việt Nam’s stock market, a survey has found. — Photo tinnnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI – Listed companies have been better in complying with information disclosure requirements, improving the transparency of Việt Nam’s stock market, a survey has found.

The survey, conducted annually to assess the level of compliance with disclosure requirements of listed stock market firms, was published by the Vietnam Association of Financial Executives and financial information services provider Vietstock.

Of 639 companies listing shares on the HCM Stock Exchange and Hà Nội Stock Exchange, 118, or 18.5 per cent, fully completed disclosure obligations in the securities market during the period of July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, the survey showed.

This is an impressive improvement compared with the rate of 9.7 per cent in 2015, 6.6 per cent in 2014, 4.2 per cent in 2013 and 3.3 per cent in 2012, the report’s authors said.

“2016 has marked a remarkable growth both in number and proportion of enterprises fully complying with disclosure requirements and regulations. This result reflects improvement in transparency and growth of Việt Nam’s stock market,” they said.

Disclosure is the act of releasing all relevant information pertaining to a company that may influence investor interest. This is also an important gauge to evaluate investor relations of listed companies.

All the companies violated one of these obligations, including slow submission of quarterly, semi-annual and annual financial statements; late reporting of resolutions of 2016 annual shareholder meetings; failure or delay in organising shareholder meetings; slow announcement of shareholder meeting documents; incomplete and out-of-date information on the company’s websites.

Many big companies failed to adhere to disclosure obligations, including Big 10 (the 10 largest companies by market value on the HCM Stock Exchange) like Vietinbank, Vietcombank, lender BIDV, PV Gas, and steelmaker Hòa Phát Group.

At the other end of spectrum, dairy giant Vinamilk, the biggest listed stock, insurer Bảo Việt Holdings and private equity Masan Group were found in compliance with the rules. – VNS