Office rentals in downtown Ho Chi Minh City have been rising steadily over the last three months, a new report by CBRE Vietnam says.
Grade A office rent has seen a 7 percent increase in the second quarter over the first quarter and 17 percent increase over the same period last year, the report said.
A similar increase, of 7.3 percent over last year, has also been seen in Grade B office rentals.
The report attributes the rice in prices to high demand and limited supply.
In the last one year, office vacancies in new buildings have been rapidly filled, with vacancy rates for both Grade A and B offices at below 5 percent, the report says.
In the second quarter of 2018, the HCMC market has not received new office space supply. Total Grade A office supply remained unchanged at 382,763 square meters, while Grade B office space rose slightly by 968 square meters to 814,330 square meters.
Dang Phuong Hang, managing director of CBRE Vietnam, predicted that Grade A office rents would continue to increase through 2019 or early 2020, with supply remaining limited. Office vacancies will become increasingly scarce, she said.
Sophie Dao, partner of GBS, a legal and business services firm in Saigon mentioned that, based on her experience with small size and mid-size foreign investors, virtual offices and co-working space still be preferred options in Vietnam.
Dramatic footage has emerged today showing the moment cops raided brothels in Vietnam and found dozens of young escorts huddled together as they desperately tried to hide their faces.
Police stormed into the Fortune Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City just before midnight on June 9 and caught the women waiting for customers.
The women fled into small rooms and used their handbags to cover their faces as police checked the buildings.
Cops then ran up to a hidden roof top terrace and discovered a further 30 waitresses “dressed provocatively” playing on their phones.
They were asked to go downstairs for administrative checks.
About an hour later, the same interdisciplinary inspection team made a second raid without warning at Fortune 2 Hotel, which is also on the same street.
The escorts were found waiting for customers. Photo: Viral Press
Police stormed three venues in June Photo: Viral Press
Some of the escorts fled to other rooms. Photo: Viral Press
Officials said that more than 80 waitresses were not officially employed under labour contracts. Photo: Viral Press
They said there were a number of seductively dressed waitresses who were found singing karaoke with foreign guests.
Officials said that more than 80 waitresses were not officially employed under labour contracts and most of their earnings come from tips from guests.
The fortune II hotel in Ho Chi Minh City was raided just before midnight Photo: Viral Press
Ho Chi Minh City Police said in a statement: “These two hotels have made a number of violations such as operating karaoke service without a license, utilising a number of waitresses per room more than permitted by laws, employing employees without contracts, and using a sexually oriented business method.”
Police later raided a third entertainment venue, the Fyou Karaoke Bar, where staff showed an ”uncooperative manner and argued loudly”.
They added: “The bar was penalised for various violations such as operating beyond stipulated business hours, infringing music copyrights, having no labor safety certificate, and having no internal rules and regulations regarding employment.”
Frantic scenes ensued after officers stormed the buildings Photo: Viral Press
Grant Thornton Vietnam just released the results of the Vietnam Hotel Survey 2018.
Kenneth Atkinson, Executive Chairman of Grant Thornton Vietnam said, the report this year marks the 15 consecutive year Grant Thornton conducting the only comprehensive research on high-end hotels and resorts in Vietnam.
Continue with last year’s momentum, Vietnam is rapidly growing as a top tourism destination among SEA countries. The country is the 6th fastest growing country in the world as a tourist destination, and the fastest in Asia, according to a report by UNWTO.
Total arrival rose by 19%, from 72 million in 2016 to 86 million in 2017, of which international arrivals increased 29%, and domestic arrivals increased 18%.
The hotel industry, following the increase in number of guest, is receiving massive amount of investments. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, in 2017 there were 79 new upscale (3-5 star) hotels brought into operation, 10 of which are 5 star, with a total of 101,400 rooms, an increase of 10% over last year. AirBnB, an emerging player in the hospitality scene, is also growing in number of listing, with over 16,000 listing in and around two key cities, Hanoi and HCMC.
Average Room Rate
The analysis of upscale hotels was performed by Star Ranking and Region. By Star Ranking, Room Rate for 4-Star hotels continues to increase, though only slightly by 1%, reaching USD75.2 in 2017. 5-Star hotels have their rates recovered from last year’s decline, reaching USD107.6, an increase of 4.2%.
RevPAR
RevPAR for hotels continues to increase, but with different paces for each star ranking, 7.6% for 4-Star hotels while 5-Star’s is higher, at 10.2%.
Occupancy Rate
Overall, occupancy rate improved by c.5% for both star rankings (4.8% for 4-Star and 5% for 5-Star). However, on the regional scale, the change in occupancy rate was not the same for all three areas. Central region saw the most significant rise in occupancy rate of 7.5%, followed by the North of Vietnam (6.4%) and the Southern region (2.2%).
Profitability
2017 witness a continued improvement of the upscale hotels sector’s profitability. EBITDA increased by 1.7%. This increase was attributed to the drop in Undistributed Operating expenses by 1.8%, while other expenses remained roughly the same.
Regarding guest components, FIT/Leisure travelers and Tour groups accounted for the highest proportions of guests staying at upscale hotels, together they accounted for more than 60% of total guest. The third biggest portion – the Corporate/Business travelers was observed with a slight increase of 0.5% in 2017.
The structure of reservation channels in 2017 remained unchanged from 2016. Tour operators/Travel Agency is the major channel of reservation for 4-Star and 5-Star hotels at c.33%, while there was a slight drop of 1.6% in Direct Bookings and a marginal increase in OTAs increased and Corporate.
On a Star Ranking basis, proportion of guest at 4-Star hotels who booked their rooms via Travel agents and Tour Operators rose to 43.1%, while 5-Star hotels only have 22.7% of its sales via this channel.
2017 saw an increase in the number of hotels who have decided that digital technology is vital to their business to help combat growing competition and to set them apart from those older hotels or those with an older mind sets. Vast majority of the hotels considers Integration of digital technologies into the Hotels services a factor that will change Vietnam hotel market.
Hotels that consider the Integration of digital technologies into the hotels services is a factor that will change Vietnam hotel market.
In 2017, all participant hotels have integrated one or more digital technology into their operation. While digital marketing and using of data mining and analysis have become basic, being used at almost all the 4-5 Star hotels, the trend of applying mobile application for guests personalization and online check in/check out is becoming more and more popular, and increasing quickly, with more than 50% of 5 Star hotels, and 30-40% of the 4 Stars. It is predicted that these digital technologies will soon taking over the industry.
100% of the proceeds raised from sales of the Hotel Survey 2018 by Grant Thornton Vietnam will be donated to Newborns Vietnam.
Copies of Grant Thornton Vietnam’s Hotel Survey 2018 can be ordered by visiting Grant Thornton Vietnam’s website, http://www.grantthornton.com.vn, or by contacting its office in Vietnam. 100% of the proceeds raised from sales of the Hotel Survey 2018 will be donated to Newborns Vietnam, a United Kingdom registered charity in Vietnam, dedicated to reducing neonatal mortality in South East Asia, with a specific focus on Danang, Vietnam.
About Grant Thornton Vietnam
Grant Thornton Vietnam is a member firm within Grant Thornton International Ltd (Grant Thornton International), which was established in 1993 with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and has enjoyed growth and success since its establishment. The firm has 13 Partners and over 230 professionals in two offices, in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, providing quality services in assurance, consulting and development services, corporate finance and tax services, designed to help clients in various industries achieve their business objectives. We operate with the highest standards of professional integrity with solid principles. Our dedication, teamwork and commitment result in a world-class professional service to our clients in Vietnam.
Australia’s Macquarie Bank has become a major shareholder in DFJ VinaCapital-backed entertainment group Yeah1 following the company’s listing debut at a record price of VND300,000 ($13.1) apiece.
In a disclosure on Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, Macquarie Bank purchased over 1.572 million shares, equivalent to 5.74 per cent of Yeah1’s charter capital, becoming a major shareholder in the Vietnamese entertainment group. A report by Quynh Nguyen on DealStreatAsia mentioned.
Along with Macquarie Bank, Yeah1 has two other major shareholders – Ancla Asset Limited (12.49%), DFJ VinaCapital Venture Investment Ltd (7.14%) – and two individuals including Nguyen Anh Nhuong Tong, Chairman of the board of directors and the group’s CEO Dao Phuc Tri.
DFJ VinaCapital, a venture fund of Vietnam’s leading asset manager VinaCapital, earlier owned 35.71 per cent stake in Yeah1. But it is believed that the fund withdrew 7.82 million shares before YEG’s listing debut, and has decreased its ownership to 7.14 per cent.
In June, Yeah1 traded on Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange on June 26 at the reference price of VND250,000 ($11). At the price which is considered the highest reference price ever in Vietnam’s stock exchange, Yeah1’s market capitalization is pegged at approximately VND6.8 trillion ($298 million).
At the end of trading day, YEG shares made a record with an increase to VND300,000 ($13.1) apiece, raising the market capitalization of this entertainment business to VND8.2 trillion ($352.6 million). Yeah1 runs a series of entertainment channels including the Yeah1TV, Yeah1family, Imovietv, and SCTV2, with nine subsidiaries and four indirect subsidiaries including Yeah1 Vietnam Co., Netlink Online Corporation, and TNT Media Advertising.
Last year, Yeah1 posted revenue of VND 851 billion ($37.2 million), after-tax profit of VND82 billion ($3.6 million), up 50 per cent year-on-year.
In a long piece for the July issue of GQ magazine, Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts detailed a harrowing 2017 assault at a nightclub in Vietnam that almost killed him, and the investigation he launched himself to find the assailants.
After production wrapped on Skull Island, which went on gross more than $500 million at the box office in 2017, Vogt-Roberts had decided to leave Hollywood to relocate to Vietnam, having fallen in love with Saigon. The city embraced Vogt-Roberts’ presence, with officials even appointing him Vietnam’s first American-born tourism ambassador. Upon relocating, the director quickly became a fixture in the Saigon club scene.
On September 9, 2017, at XOXO nightclub in Saigon, Vogt-Roberts, who was joined by friends including Hollywood stuntman Ilram Choi, was jumped and brutally beaten by at least 10 men he described as “insane gangsters,” who beat him and hit him over the head with a champagne bottle before escaping. The director was taken to a hospital where it was determined that he had suffered a fractured skull, contusions, hemorrhaging, and a cerebral air pocket.
Following a 10-day hospital stay, Vogt-Roberts returned to California for further medical treatment and was told his injuries were beyond what was determined by the Vietnam doctors. He also had a concussion, and the skull fracture, from being hit with the bottle, was more serious than originally diagnosed.
There is video footage of the incident, which Vogt-Roberts, still traumatized, was able to gain access to. He was cautioned not to further inquire into the incident from those with knowledge of Saigon’s crime scene, who believed his assailants were “protected,” and Vietnamese police were mum on who the suspects were or if they could be caught. Refusing to let the case go, Vogt-Roberts launched in own investigation, taking to Facebook Messenger and mining sources who have knowledge about the Vietnamese crime world to hone in on the culprits.
Soon, Vogt-Roberts and GQ writer Max Marshall, who penned the article published today, were working on the case together, holding off a planned magazine profile “to play full-on Hardy Boys.”
With help from sources and Canadian authorities, a suspect identified in the attack, Kenny Cuong, has been apprehended (though not in connection with Vogt-Roberts’ attack), while the rest remain at large. Still, the revelations have helped Vogt-Roberts’ healing process.
He also maintains his love for Vietnam, saying “no amount of pain will ever skew my appreciation for that country.”
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is supporting Vietnam to unlock the next generation of foreign direct investment (FDI) to sustain the country’s rapid economic development, competitiveness and inclusive prosperity.
According to a report by devdiscourse.com, the Recommendations on Vietnam Next Generation FDI Strategy and Vision 2020-2030, launched by IFC and the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) today in Hanoi provides findings and recommendations to serve as key inputs for the government to develop Vietnam’s new national FDI approach, part of the country’s strategic documents such as the Socio-Economic Development Strategy (2021-2030).
While open-door investment and trade policies have led to increases in FDI inflows, employment opportunities and diversification of exports — especially in the last decade with annual FDI inflows rocketing by almost ten times to outperform most regional competitors — this new report responds to a growing realization that Vietnam requires breakthrough reforms to compete for higher quality streams of FDI.
Saigon, Vietnam
“The challenge we face is unique, as record FDI inflows contrast with still limited spillover and value-added benefits. We believe the recommendations outlined today will underpin a new national approach to FDI and contribute to the achievement of national development goals,” said MPI Vice Minister Vu Dai Thang.
Developed in partnership with Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, the strategy, in particular, responds to recent findings that FDI in Vietnam is substantively driven by low labor costs and generous incentives.
In fact, investors have identified a lack of skilled labor as an impediment to growth, while the absence of integrated local supply chains has further blunted the competitiveness of firms as has the lack of qualified domestic suppliers and effective policies to assist local players.
“By addressing these issues, the government is likely to unlock more opportunities for Vietnam,” said Kyle Kelhofer, IFC Country Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR. “The core analysis involved an intensive review of potential priority sectors. It aimed to identify which sectors — and under what circumstances — represent the most competitive opportunities for Vietnam to attract investment (FDI and domestic), create both more and better jobs, and increase sourcing from local firms.”
Having emerged from a qualitative survey and stakeholder consultations on FDI strategy, the report’s recommendations translate into eight proposed breakthrough reforms.
An immediate priority is adoption of concrete policies that increase FDI linkages and spillovers, with a focus on introducing policies to increase FDI linkages and targeted supplier development programs.
In line with meeting the challenges and opportunities of Industry 4.0, Vietnam should aspire to a business environment commensurate with business needs in the digital age. Instead of “playing catch-up”, this reset should offer a superior investment climate and operating experiences with digital/online solutions compared to regional competitors.
Other recommendations include creating and implementing an integrated national skills development plan to accelerate Vietnam’s transition from low to skilled labor; modernizing investment promotion, moving from reactive to proactive promotion in priority sectors; overhauling current incentives frameworks; opening up important sectors that underpin competitiveness and growth; and introducing strategic outward FDI promotion policies.
Above all, a strong FDI focal point agency with the proper profile, influence, organizational structure and budget is key to ensuring effective implementation of all these recommendations.
Domestic businesses should closely monitor the market situation, prepare to adjust their operations and redefine export markets to avoid negative impacts and capitalize on opportunities from the US-China trade war, officials and experts recommended.
After US tariffs on US$34 billion of Chinese imports took effect on Friday, China’s commerce ministry said it was forced to retaliate, meaning $34 billion worth of imported US goods including autos and agricultural products also faced 25 per cent tariffs.
According to experts, when the trade confrontation between the US and China ramps up, Vietnam will be affected. A report by Vietnam News.
Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that at the moment, the direct and immediate impacts on Vietnam’s exports will not be much as goods subjected to the tariffs by both the US and China are limited (including Chinese technology products and some US agricultural products such as maize, soybeans and meat, which aren’t Vietnam’s key export staples).
However, in the long run, it will be difficult to predict the impacts if the war continues to escalate and more tariffs are imposed, Loc said, explaining that being a small economy with the US its largest export market and China its largest import market, Vietnam will surely be affected by the confrontation.
On the other hand, Loc said Vietnamese businesses can take advantage of the opportunity to boost exports of products that the Chinese versions have high tax rates in the US, and vice versa in China.
However, facing difficulties entering the US market, Chinese goods will shift to other markets, including Vietnam. Vietnam, therefore, may suffer a trade deficit with China, Loc said.
Additionally, as exports to the US fall, more Chinese goods will be consumed in the local market, causing difficulties for Vietnam’s exports to China. The growth rate of Vietnam’s exports to China, which reached 30 per cent in 2017, may be affected.
Echoing Loc, Tran Toan Thang, head of the World Economic Department of the National Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said the conflict would give Vietnam a good chance to export to the US.
However, on the other hand, if China could not export to the US, it would boost its exports to other countries, including Vietnam, Thang said.
According to Loc, at a broader level, the US-China trade war may cause global trade to change, causing Vietnam’s exports to face fiercer competition in both other foreign markets and at home.
Besides, the trade war could also affect investment flow, global supply and demand as well as capital and securities markets, Loc said.
According to PhD Doctor Pham Van Dai, the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) capital will not abruptly change for the global production chain value. FDI capital and its production chain will move from China to Vietnam as the labour cost in Vietnam is cheaper than in China.
To mitigate the impact, Loc suggested exporters closely monitor the market situation, not only in the US or China but also in other markets. They should prepare to adjust their production, business, supply and markets flexibly.
The firms should also seek other stable and more favourable export markets besides the US and China, especially those Vietnam had signed free trade agreement with.
Economist Pham Chi Lan also suggested that Vietnamese firms expand their partnership to at least three markets to avoid dependence on a particular market.
Such a strategy will help Vietnamese firms survive and exploit new opportunities in the context of a global trade war, she said, suggesting that Vietnamese firms should increase their influence in other markets outside the US and China, such as the EU.
The establishment of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership without the US’s participation is a good way to deal with the unpredictable policies of the US and China at the moment, Lan said.
In the domestic market, Loc suggested that local firms co-operate with each other to take actions when necessary. For example, firms can use legitimate trade remedies such as anti-dumping, anti-subsidy or safeguards to fight unfair foreign trade practices.
In the first half of 2018, at least 13 major funds and investors on Vietnam’s stock market suffered negative growth rate in their net asset value (NAV), which is value per share of a fund on a specific date or time.
Leading this was Hanoi-based Hestia Joint Stock Company registered on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), which saw its NAV falling by 19.4 percent.
Thien Viet Securities Joint Stock Company came second with its Thien Viet Growth Fund 2 (TVAM TVGF2) on the Ho Chi Minh stock exchange (VN-Index) dropping 11.6 percent.
Other funds and investors in the negative growth list include U.S.-based VanEck Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM ETF), Passion Investment, Pyn Elite Fund, the TCEF fund of Techcom Capital Co. Ltd, SSI Sustainable Competitive Advantage Fund (SSI SCA), VCBF Leading Investment Fund (VCBF-BCF), Vietfund Management Company (VMFVF4) and Vietnam Enterprise Investment Limited (VEIL), managed by Dragon Capital Group.
Why this happened to these major investors is not so difficult to understand, market observers say.
It is common that big investors tend to pour investments into blue chip stocks, and from the second half of 2017 to the first few months of 2018, it was those blue chips that pushed the Vietnam stock market up high, and the investors profited, duly.
The country’s stock market hit a 10-year high and reached 984.24 points in the last trading session of 2017. It had not broken the 800-point barrier since 2008.
Continuing its good run, the VN-Index, the benchmark stock index of Vietnam, grew 19.33 percent in the first three months of this year, becoming the best-performing market in the world.
It passed the 1,200-point level on April 9 and has stayed at 900 something before things started to turn bad in the second quarter when the market plunged 18.19 percent, making it the worst-performing market in the world.
In such a reversal, it was the blue chips investors that suffered the most, and now, have to face the consequences.
A typical example is Passion Investment.
This fund spent almost 95 percent of its total VND220 billion ($9.5 million) acquiring 3.24 million shares of the Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank), as shown it its Q1 report.
The price of VPBank’s shares kept rising from the year’s beginning to early April when it reached the peak of nearly VND70,000 ($3) per share.
Then it dropped to VND50,000 and fell nonstop to around VND25,000 recently.
“When all investors are pinning their hopes too high and the stock market is pushed for a long time, a small impact can worry investors and make them scatter,” an expert said as he explained the plunge.
Nguyen The Minh, director of analysis at Yaunta Securities Vietnam Company, said that many investors had started selling their stocks back in the first quarter.
Other experts said the global situation, from the tensions in Syria when the U.S.-led air strikes targeted Syrian military sites to the U.S.-China trade war and worries about global capital movements as the U.S.’s Federal Reserve System raised interest rates, might have affected the stock exchange in the second quarter.
Six people have been arrested in Vietnam for running an online betting ring based on a server in the Philippines that had attracted thousands of gamblers, state media reported Monday.
The arrests came as authorities across Southeast Asia were on high alert for a betting spike linked to the ongoing World Cup, and followed a raid in Vietnam on an online football gambling operation last month. A report by Agence France-Presse
The M88 ring “involved thousands of gamblers across the country” who collectively gambled up to $87 million since 2015, Ministry of Public Security spokesman Cong An Nhan Dan said in the report.
“Its website is on a server based in the Philippines, (operates) in different languages and covered all sorts of gambling.”
The report said the operation covered sports, although it did not state if the ring was involved in running World Cup bets.
Police arrested six Vietnamese people during raids in several cities across the country last week, confiscating three cars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, according to the report.
It did not give any further details on the extent of the gambling ring’s operations in the Philippines.
Gambling is illegal in Vietnam apart from the state-run lottery and a few casinos which are only open to foreigners.
Betting or running illegal betting operations carries a maximum jail term of 10 years.
But the law is widely flouted, especially during top-tier sport competitions, when many punters head online or to illegal gambling dens to try their luck.
The government last year announced a pilot program that would allow citizens over the age of 21 with a monthly income of at least $430 to gamble in local casinos. The move has yet to be implemented.
Nguyen Thuy Nga, a floral designer from Liti Florist of Vietnam has been through the elimination round to represent Vietnam in the professional category of the 11th International FDSS Cup Floral Designing Competition.
The event will be held as part of the Singapore Garden Festival at the city’s ‘Gardens by the Bay’ on Saturday July 21. VNS reports.
Nga said she was happy and honoured to surpass many other contestants from different nations in the elimination round to become one of 12 professional finalists to attend the international floral competition.
“After finding out I would represent Vietnam in Singapore, my team and I have worked hard on every process, from setting up the idea, preparing the materials, realising the floral designs and particularly, understanding thoroughly the regulations of the organisation board,” she told dantri.com.vn.
According to her, the regulations of the organization board, covering about four pages, details the permitted themes, dimensions and materials as well as professional requirements.
Liti florist in Hai Ba Trung street,, Hanoi, Vietnam
“Therefore, we have to study the regulations carefully in order to avoid unexpected mistakes,” Nga added.
This year’s competition includes three parts – creating a free-standing display on the theme of ‘Movement and Excitement with Chrysanthemums’, creating a chair-back design on a Tiffany chair and creating a hand-tied bouquet with a selection of materials only made known to the contestants on-site.
“The most exciting one is the third part, which challenges the contestants’ creativity.”
“The competition will be an interesting experience for me and my colleagues. I’m not considering the prizes, but thinking it’s a wonderful opportunity to introduce Việt Nam to international friends. I will learn new techniques for my career, which I have been very passionate about,” said the floral designer with six years of experience in the profession.
The International FDSS Cup Floral Designing Competition, in conjunction with the biannual Singapore Garden Festival, is staged by the Floral Designers Society (Singapore), a non-profit organisation. After the elimination round, this year’s contest has selected 32 contestants, 12 professionals and 20 amateurs, from 10 nations.
A joint-stock company is established through a subscription for shares in the company. Under Vietnamese law, only JSCs are permitted to issue shares to the public and may be listed on stock exchanges.
The charter capital of a JSC is divided into shares, and each shareholder holds shares corresponding to the amount of capital contributed to the company. JSCs may either be 100% foreign-owned or may take the form of a joint venture between both foreign and domestic investors.
Investment Capital Requirements
A JSC must have a minimum of three shareholders, with no maximum. Shareholders are generally free to assign their shares to other persons, except in a few cases where restrictions exist.
A JSC’s charter capital equals the the aggregate value of the issued shares that the founding shareholders and the other shareholders have subscribed and recorded in the charter of the JSC.
Management
A JSC’s governance structure comprises of a General Meeting of shareholders, the board of management, the chairman of the board of management and the general director. A Board of Supervisors is also required where the JSC has more than 11 individual shareholders, or if a corporate shareholder holds more than 50% of the shares of the joint-stock company.
The GSM is the highest decision-making body of a JSC, while the Board of Management manages the day to day operations of the JSC. The BOM is required to have at least 3 members, with a maximum of 11. The number of members of the BOM who must reside permanently in Vietnam is stipulated in the JSC’s charter.
Accounting /auditing requirements
Similar to the LLC, JSCs are also required to prepare and submit audited financial statements to the appropriate authorities within ninety days from the end of the financial year.
Advisory services
GBS – one of the best business law firms in Vietnam with a network South East Asia, Middle East, Japan, HongKong, Malta and Poland – offers simple direct advice to start your operations in Vietnam. They provide the help you need to understand your options, obtain your business license and complete the registration of your own company.
Certify a document as a true copy of the original by getting it signed and dated by a professional person, like a solicitor.
When you apply for something like a bank account or mortgage, you may be asked to provide documents that are certified as true copies of the original.
Copies of documents that can be certified include:
passports
photocard driving licences
bank/building society or credit card statements
letters from a government department
gas, electricity or tax bills
letters from a hospital/doctor
There are different rules for passport applications and photos and for a lasting power of attorney.
Who can certify a document in Vietnam?
Your document must be certified by a professional lawyer or someone well-respected in your community (‘of good standing’). You could ask the following if they offer this service:
minister
lawyer
solicitor
notary
Check with the organisation that needs the certified copy – they may have specific rules for who can certify a document.
How to certify a document in Vietnam?
Take the photocopied document and the original and ask the person to certify the copy by:
writing ‘Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me’ on the document
signing and dating it
printing their name under the signature
adding their occupation, address and telephone number
The lawyer certifying the document will charge you some fees.
Certifying a translation
If you need to certify a translation of a document that’s not written in English or Vietnamese, ask the translation company to confirm in writing on the translation:
that it’s a ‘true and accurate translation of the original document’
the date of the translation
the full name and contact details of the translator or a representative of the translation company
Samsung smartphones are sending users’ pictures to their contacts without their permission, according to complaints by a number of people posted online.
The issue appears to be affecting Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 8 users.
One user on Reddit said that the entire photo library on his phone was sent over text to his girlfriend but there was no record of it on his messaging app. He discovered it had happened via his T-Mobile logs.
Users are reporting that it is an issue with Samsung Messages, the default messaging app on the South Korean company’s devices.
One person on Samsung’s community forum said the messaging app became “very buggy” after an update by T-Mobile for so-called Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging.
This new standard is a messaging protocol between different carriers to help make sending videos and other media easier. It is aiming to replace traditional SMS messaging.
A Samsung spokesperson told CNBC by email that it is aware of the reports and that the technical teams “are looking into the matter.” Customers “are encouraged to contact their local customer service team directly,” the spokesperson added.
Later, Samsung updated the statement to say that it had investigated the issue and found that there was no software or hardware problem.
“Samsung has reviewed this matter thoroughly these past few days; however, there were no hardware or software issues found to be relevant to this particular case. While there have been no known similar customer reports globally, we will continue to investigate this issue further,” a spokesperson told CNBC by email on Tuesday.
T-Mobile was not immediately available for comment. But the mobile network did issue a statement to other news organizations saying that “it’s not a T-Mobile issue.”
Gruesome murders shook the nation, happened when millions of Vietnamese were celebrating the Lunar New Year.
A Vietnamese teenager was sentenced to death on Monday for the brutal murder of a family of five in Ho Chi Minh City.
Nguyen Huu Tinh, 18, was found guilty for the heartless killing of Mai Xuan Chinh, 46, his wife and their three children aged between 6 and 13 on February 12 this year.
Tinh has also been forced to pay VND200 million ($8,677) to the victims’ next of kin.
According to the indictment, Tinh was an employee at Chinh’s welding shop in Binh Tan District on the city’s outskirts since August 2017. He received a monthly salary of VND4.5 million ($195), plus food and accommodation.
He attended the family’s year-end party on the night of February 12 with his colleagues, but while his co-workers returned home to celebrate the Lunar New Year after the party, Tinh asked to stay behind at the family’s house. That night, he stabbed Chinh’s entire family to death.
He told police officers that he had been treated unfairly while working at Chinh’s shop, that he was frequently scolded by the owner’s wife. He wanted to take revenge and steal their belongings.
The culprit admitted his crime at the hearing.
The murder was discovered three days later, after residents reported to police the smell of decomposing flesh coming from Chinh’s house.
The incident shocked the public as it took place at a time when the nation as a whole was celebrating Tet, the Lunar New Year, the longest and most important holiday in Vietnam.
Tinh was arrested while hiding in Long An Province outside the city on February 16.
Together, they have almost 90 percent of Vietnam’s growing ready-to-drink (RTD) market share.
The RTD market in Vietnam is dominated by just three companies: Tan Hiep Phat, Filipino Universal Robina Corporation (URC), and Suntory PepsiCo, a joint venture of American and Japanese firms.
Founded in 1994, Tan Hiep Phat had identified instant tea as its key business from the very beginning. Two popular products on the market are “Tra xanh Khong do” and “Dr.Thanh.”
The company used to hold more than 55 percent of the total market share in 2012, but this dropped to under 40 percent in just three years after a scandal in late 2015 when a fly was found in one of its tea bottles.
But the popularity of instant tea among Vietnamese consumers has kept Tan Hiep Phat going. Its gross profit last year hit VND1.84 trillion ($80 million), two times that of 2014.
Tan Hiep Phat is still the market leader with 53 percent.
URC, one of the biggest food and beverage producers in the Philippines, has faced many ups and downs on the Vietnamese market, including occupying the first place, before slipping drastically to third, where it stays now.
Soon after entering Vietnam in 2003 and building its fame with the “C2” brand, URC Vietnam secured the second spot on the domestic RTD market, right behind Tan Hiep Phat.
The fly-in-the-drink scandal involving Tan Hiep Phat in 2015 paved the way for URC Vietnam to become the first RTD firm in the country in early 2016.
But then URC Vietnam stumbled, when its tea was found to be contaminated with lead in mid-2016. Its market share shrank from 35-40 percent three years ago to just 15 percent recently. It has lost its second spot to Suntory Pepsico.
Launched in Vietnam in 2013, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage Company (SPVB), a fully foreign owned joint venture in Vietnam between U.S. PepsiCo Inc. and Japan’s Suntory Holdings Limited, has used the network that PepsiCo had already established in Vietnam as a lever to thrive.
Suntory PepsiCo landed in Vietnam with its “O Long Tea plus” bottled tea that is said to be extracted from black oolong tea leaves. Oolong tea is very popular in Japan.
The firm has made good use the scandals involving Tan Hiep Phat and URC to expand its business.
By mid-2016, its market share climbed up to 20 percent and by the end of the third quarter this year, it had taken the second position, with URC Vietnam at 15.8 percent.
It is obvious that the Vietnamese have developed a taste for sweetened drinks.
The Health Ministry had said at a meeting last month that from just 6 litres in 2000, per capita consumption of sweetened drinks had soared to 44 in 2016. It had organized the meeting to announce new recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) on controlling consumption of sugary drinks.
Truong Tuyet Mai, deputy director of the National Institute of Nutrition, said that Vietnamese people are predicted to consume over 5 billion liters of sweetened drinks in 2018, nine times more than that in 2000, and the figure is estimated to reach 11 billion by 2025.
In 2016, sales of sugary drinks in Vietnam reached over four billion liters, according to a survey by British market researcher Euromonitor International, which found that instant tea and soft drinks were the best-selling beverages, accounting for more than 2 billion liters and around 1 billion liters respectively.
The survey also found that the sweetened beverage market has been rising fast in Vietnam, with an annual growth rate of 9.2 percent.
According to Germany’s Statista Market Research Co, the market volume of RTD tea in Vietnam is expected to increase by around 72.5 percent between 2015 and 2020.
It also put the total value of Vietnam’s RTD market at $1.69 billion in 2015 and forecast that the figure will go up to $3.37 billion by 2020.
