On the morning of May 18 in Ho Chi Minh City, Duc Thanh Wood Company held its annual general meeting of shareholders for 2024. The Shareholders' Council approved matters related to summarizing the business activities of 2023 and outlining the development direction for 2024.

According to the report from the Board of Directors, in 2023, Duc Thanh Wood achieved a total net revenue of 310.9 billion VND, reaching only 60% of the plan and nearly 80% compared to 2022. After-tax profit reached 36.4 billion VND, only reaching 49% of the plan and 53% compared to the actual performance in 2022.

One of the breakthrough solutions in 2023 that Duc Thanh Wood implemented was to rearrange and transfer all production activities from the factory in Ho Chi Minh City to focus on the factory in Tan Uyen city. In addition to streamlining and reducing management costs, transportation between the two factories, Duc Thanh Wood also generated nearly 10 billion VND in revenue from renting out factories and warehouses in Ho Chi Minh City.

Image 1: Ms. Le Hai Lieu, President of Duc Thanh Wood Company, spoke at the annual general meeting.

With business results not meeting expectations and priority given to allocating capital for investing in new workshops, Duc Thanh Wood proposes reducing the dividend payout ratio for 2023 from 30% to 20%. This proposal includes distributing 10% of the dividend as a cash advance earlier this year and distributing the remaining 10% as stock dividends.

Therefore, the shareholders' council also approved a plan to issue 10% of new shares to pay dividends. The additional shares issued amount to over 2.147 million shares, funded from retained earnings.

Image 2: The overview of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM)

Duc Thanh Wood also approved a plan to issue shares under the Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) at a rate of 5%, equivalent to about 1.073 million shares. The issuance price is 10,000 VND per share.
However, she noted that the inventories of importers have been depleted after the cessation period, reducing orders, and starting to reorder. In addition, the company's production arrangements and investment activities are beginning to yield results. Therefore, Duc Thanh Wood sets revenue targets for 2024 at 365.6 billion VND, with after-tax profits of 60 billion VND, increasing by 18% and 65% respectively compared to 2023. It is expected to distribute a 20% dividend in cash or a combination of cash and stock.

"Compared to 2023, the profit target for 2024 is quite high, but it is still not as high as in previous years. With the solid internal strength of Duc Thanh Wood, as long as there are positive signals from the general economic situation, we are confident in achieving this plan," emphasized Ms. Le Hai Lieu to the shareholders.

The financial year 2023 was a challenging period for the global economy in general and Vietnam in particular. Difficulties stemmed from many unpredictable and prolonged factors such as the war between Russia and Ukraine, another war that broke out in October 2023 in Gaza - the Middle East causing market turmoil and global commodity price fluctuations. The world economy experienced high inflation leading to reduced consumption, especially in Europe, while in Asia, currencies depreciated against the USD, strongly affecting spending.

Facing many difficulties and challenges of the macro economy, Duc Thanh Wood Company has been very flexible in seeking orders to maintain production, support employees, and retain customers.

MAI