25th Apr 2025 07:01
VietNam Holding Limited ("VNH" or the "Company")
Monthly Investor Report
A report detailing the activities of the Company for the month of March 2025 has been issued by Dynam Capital Limited, the investment manager of the Company. Electronic copies of the report have been made available to shareholders on the Company's website and a summary of the report is included below.
Manager Commentary: Trump's tariff remix
As Vietnam prepares to mark its own Liberation Day on April 30th, commemorating 50 years since the reunification of North and South, it won't just be honouring its past; it will also be celebrating its place in a changing world order. It is Vietnam's most significant national holiday, symbolising its resilience, independence, and transformation into the emerging economic force it is today. Indeed, even as Trump was setting another volatile tempo for global markets with his American "Liberation Day" speech, Vietnam's GDP growth rate managed to reach 6.93% in the first quarter of 2025, marking the highest growth rate for a first quarter during the 2020-2025 period. With its manufacturing PMI rising to 50.5 in March, Vietnam's economy is staying on track for meeting the government's ambitious 8% GDP growth target for 2025, despite tariff-gate.
While the reciprocal tariff announcement weighed heavily on markets in Asia, especially for exporters to the US, like Vietnam, the Vietnamese government had been preparing for different scenarios and responded diplomatically by sending trade envoys to Washington to seek a stronger bilateral trade agreement. Apart from reinforcing its strategic partnership with the US-US$36 bn in trade agreements on agriculture, aircraft, and automobiles are being negotiated and expected to be signed-it also carried on with policies to incentivise the onshoring of high-value manufacturing and enhance cooperation with other key trading partners, old and new. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh recently issued a directive to focus on free trade negotiations with India, the Middle East, Latin America, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
Vietnam is committed to its growth targets for the next decade, given its proactive measures for reducing bureaucracy, diversifying its economy, and encouraging private sector development. Additionally, as the trade war rhetoric between the US and China amplifies uncertainties, tech suppliers still consider Vietnam as a promising China-plus-one alternative as they accelerate supplier realignment strategies. Vietnam has a tech-savvy population and a government that supports digital transformation.
As for Vietnam's stock market, it made moderate gains in March, buoyed mainly by the country's booming tourism sector. VNH finished March underweight in export-related sectors and has since rebalanced its portfolio to protect against tariff risks by increasing cash, investing more in certain retail, IT, and bank stocks, reducing some logistics stocks. The portfolio is currently strategically overweight domestically orientated companies, while our long-term conviction in opportunities for domestic consumption, digitalisation, urbanisation, and industrialisation remains intact.
Vietnam's equity markets have recovered strongly since Trump's 90-day pause announcement and are trading at attractive valuations not seen in two decades. The key approach for us will be to continue to invest in quality, long-term compounding stocks that can benefit from Vietnam's evolving economic growth story.
Vietnam Holding has outperformed the Vietnam All Share Index (VNAS) for fifteen years. The monthly and year-to-date underperformance are function of a bifurcated market. Foreign investors have been net-selling Vietnam and other emerging market equities for more than 12 months, pulling down valuations in certain high conviction large-cap stocks to single-digit P/E ratios. The 9 million domestic retail investors have been allocating more to certain key index stocks which we are intentionally underweight in. In the mid and long-term we are confident of our stock picking and portfolio construction approach. The portfolio is on a single-digit P/E ratio, with forecast earnings per share growth of 20%. Once clarity on tariffs and greater certainty returns to markets, we expect to see our strategy perform robustly.
We are grateful for the support of our shareholders and seek to keep people updated regularly. The interim results were published in March (see link), and we hosted a recent webinar on the LSE to provide an update to investors on tariff responses from both VNH and the Vietnam government (see link).
For more information please contact:
Dynam Capital Limited
Craig Martin Tel: +84 28 3827 7590
[email protected] |www.dynamcapital.com
www.vietnamholding.com
Cavendish Capital Markets Limited
Corporate Broker and Financial Advisor Tel: +44 20 7220 0500
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