Fecon to expand foreign ownership

HÀ NỘI — Fecon Foundation Engineering and Underground Construction JSC (FCN) announced plans to increase foreigner ownership to over 49 per cent at the firm’s general shareholder meeting in Hà Nội on Saturday. Fecon’s Chairman Phạm Việt Khoa said increasing the percentage of foreign ownership would create the essential conditions to attract more investment and increase liquidity, help the stock price of Fecon better reflect its value and provide long-term benefits to shareholders. Currently, the foreign ownership of Fecon is around 32 per cent. In 2015, the Hà Nội-based firm reached VNĐ1.66 trillion in revenue and VNĐ155 billion in profit, an increases of 23 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively over the previous year. Despite the increases, Fecon said the results were only 92 per cent of its plan for the whole year due to delays in some major oil refinery constructions under the impact of slumping world oil prices. In Q1, Fecon reported sales of VNĐ260 billion and a net profit of VNĐ26 billion. Last year, Fecon said it entered the southern market, attracting over VNĐ300 billion in new contracts. In addition, it won the underground construction segment of a US$2 million construction project in Myanmar. Also at the meeting, Fecon planned to change its name to Fecon Corporation, as it planned to diversify from its core business of foundation engineering and underground construction. Fecon, now seeks to expand into the infrastructures of urban areas, the environment and energy so that it can become one of the leading infrastructure firms by 2020. Khoa said Fecon would continue to focus on developing its core business and cooperate with other investors in some joint investments, where Fecon would carry out the underground construction work. According to a Vietcombank Securities Company report on the firm released on April 20, the greater ownership for foreigners and the future prospects of Fecon would make FCN one of the most likely shares to grow in the local market.