New chairwoman Mai Kiều Liên (third, left) and other new members in GTNFoods Board of Directors for the 2020-24 term. — Photo tienphong.vn

HÀ NỘI — Dairy firm Vinamilk’s CEO Mai Kiều Liên on Saturday was voted by GTNFoods JSC’s shareholders to become the chairwoman of the latter.

The decision was made at GTNFoods’ first annual shareholder meeting after the company was acquired by Vinamilk in December 2019.

GTNFoods’ former board of directors was also disbanded and the new board was made with five new members for the 2020-24 term.

All five board members came from Vinamilk. Liên was named the new board chairwoman.

Other board members included Lê Thành Liêm, the new chief finance officer cum chief accountant, and Trịnh Quốc Dũng, director of raw material development.

Dũng became the new CEO at GTNFoods in December 2019 after Vinamilk acquired GTNFoods.

GTNFoods in 2020 targets a total net revenue of VNĐ2.9 trillion (US$124.7 million), a pre-tax profit of VNĐ159 billion and a post-tax profit of VNĐ99 billion.

Last year, the company earned VNĐ2.97 trillion in total net revenue, down 1.46 per cent year on year. Its post-tax profit was only VNĐ6.7 billion, accounting for only 3 per cent of the full-year target.

Lower full-year earnings in 2019 were attributed to the decline in market consumption and the restructuring of the company following Vinamilk’s acquisition.

According to business strategy director Cao Thị Hồng, GTNFoods has focused on improving the quality of products. The deal with Vinamilk is expected to bring GTNFoods a better future with its excessive resources, a huge distribution network and high quality of corporate governance.

Chairwoman Liên said the deal aims to foster both companies. GTNFoods will develop high-quality organic dairy farms and Vinamilk will expand its plants to consume all farm outputs.

Little impact from coronavirus

The noval coronavirus (COVID-19) has had little impact on Vinamilk’s business in China, Liên told reporters on the sidelines of the annual shareholders meeting.

Business insiders and analysts have raised concerns that Vinamilk may suffer from the spread of coronavirus in China and its sales in the most-populated market may go down as demand declines.

Such concerns have dragged Vinamilk shares (HoSE: VNM) down in the last two weeks since the market re-opened after the week-long Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday.

Since the market re-opening on January 30, Vinamilk shares have dropped a total of more than 12 per cent to end last week at VNĐ106,600 per share.

Vinamilk in 2018 made the first step into China – the world’s most populated market – and the company’s products have appeared in the two provinces of Hubei and Hainan as of August 2019.

COVID-19 will drag China’s total domestic consumption down and demand for all products, including necessities such as milk and dairy outputs, will drop, according to business insiders.

Liên said the virus will force people to look for nutritious products to improve health, so there should be no worries about Vinamilk’s business in China.

Vinamilk in 2019 earned a total of VMĐ56.3 trillion in net revenue, up 7.1 per cent year on year. Its pre-tax profit gained 6.2 per cent on-year to VNĐ12.8 trillion and net profit rose 3.5 per cent on-year to VNĐ10.58 trillion. — VNS