HÀ NỘI — Vietnam Airlines, the country’s largest aviation corporation, yesterday started trading more than 1.22 billion shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) at a starting price of VNĐ28,000 (US$1.24) per share.

As expected, share prices, listed as HVN, hit the daily limit rise of 40 per cent for the first trading day to VNĐ39,200 per share, putting the company’s market capitalisation at more than VNĐ48 trillion.

Before listing, it was traded at around VNĐ40,000 per share on the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market.

Vietnam Airlines has contributed the second largest volume of shares in scale and value on UpCom. The largest is the Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV), whose 2.18 billion shares were listed on November 21.

The corporation expects the listing to raise its brand profile and prestige on the market and mobilise capital for its investment needs. It also sees the listing providing the needed momentum to continue its restructuring itinerary, issue shares to increase capital and become a leading national and international firm.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the UPCoM listing, Chairman Phạm Ngọc Minh said Vietnam Airlines was the first and only airlines on the Vietnamese stock market.

He said it was one of the first three State-owned enterprises that have found a foreign strategic investor – Japan’s ANA Holdings Inc, which pledged to go along with Vietnam Airlines in its development process as well as co-operate in exploiting air route networks and improving corporate administration.

On Monday, Vietnam Airlines announced a syndicated profit of VNĐ2.5 trillion in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 140 per cent, exceeding its annual target by 7 per cent.

Its syndicated revenue was around VNĐ76 trillion, up 10 per cent over the previous year. Of this, the parent company Vietnam Airlines, which has subsidiaries like Jetstar Pacific and Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO), earned around VNĐ59.1 trillion in revenue and VNĐ1.6 trillion in pre-tax profit, which is 5.6 times higher than in 2015.

Vietnam Airlines said it had contributed around VNĐ4.9 trillion to the State budget, a 11 per cent rise from the previous year.

It operated around 133,000 flights carrying 20.6 million passengers in 2016, up 18.7 per cent over 2015. It also transported 264,000 tonnes of goods, exceeding its annual target by 10 per cent.

The corporation has a number of subsidiaries that will enable it to develop and diversify service packages and maintain its lead in the market.

Vietnam Airlines is focused on offering four-star quality service on its domestic and international routes to southeast and northeast Asian countries, European Union and Australia. Jetstar Pacific operates mainly on domestic routes, so it offers highly competitive prices, as well as on short-distance international routes. VASCO offers aviation services and exploits small local airports incapable of receiving big aircraft.

As per the latest data from the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), on the biggest domestic route between Hà Nội and HCM City, Vietnam Airlines and its subsidiary Jetstar Pacific occupy 63 per cent of the market share, 45 per cent of it with parent firm. The corporation’s overall market share stands at 60 per cent.

In 2017, Vietnam Airlines plans to continue focusing on safety and security for passengers and maintaining four-star quality service. It will work closely with its subsidiaries Jetstar Pacific, Cambodia Angkor Air and VASCO to offer quality services to meet increasing demand. — VNS