The big port company was charged over 3.5 billion VND in back taxes.

Recently, Gemadept Joint Stock Company (Stock code: GMD) received a decision from the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department on administrative penalties for tax violations during the inspection period from 2017 to 2022.

The tax authority will collect corporate income tax of more than VND1.5 billion, late payment of corporate income tax of VND674.4 million and administrative fines of more than VND1.3 billion from Gemadept. The total amount that Gemadept must pay is more than VND3.5 billion.

Gemadept was formerly a state-owned enterprise established in 1990 and equitized in 1993. To date, most of the enterprise's shares have been dispersed into the hands of private individuals and small domestic and foreign shareholders.

Shareholder data at the end of 2022 shows that state shareholders have divested all capital. The largest shareholder is SSJ Consulting Vietnam Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of Sumitomo - Japan), which owns about 9.85%. Small domestic shareholders hold up to 52.65% of shares and the remaining are other foreign shareholders owning 37.5% of the enterprise's capital.

The group of business leaders (including members of the Board of Directors, the Board of Management and the Board of Supervisors) only held about 5.5 million shares at that time, or about 1.83% of the shares. Of which, Chairman of the Board of Directors Do Van Nhan had the most, more than 1.5 million shares (0.5%).

The total number of shareholders recorded at the end of last year was 12,179 units; including 225 organizations and 11,954 individuals.

Since equitization, Gemadept has grown rapidly in the maritime sector in Vietnam, with a dense presence in seaports stretching from North to South and many domestic and international distribution centers.

This private company operates a system of 7 large port clusters including: 3 ports in the North: Nam Dinh Vu Port, Nam Hai ICD, Nam Hai Port, one in the Central region: Dung Quat Port and 3 ports in the South: Phuoc Long ICD, Gemalink Port and Binh Duong Port.

Most notably, Gemalink Port, in partnership with CMA Terminals (France), is the largest deep-water port in Vietnam. The company is also looking to form a joint venture with SSA Marine (USA) to cooperate in strategic port projects in southern Vietnam, including a joint interest in developing the $6.7 billion Cai Mep Ha Logistics Center.

This giant has also built a dense logistics network with 22 distribution centers nationwide. The real estate business segment has the Saigon Gem Complex project and the Complex project in Vientiane - Laos. The forestry segment is developing a rubber tree planting and processing project in Cambodia.

Gemadept’s business operations have also made strong progress recently thanks to capacity expansion and favorable macroeconomic conditions. Last year, the company recorded revenue reaching VND3,900 billion for the first time and pre-tax profit reaching a record VND1,161 billion, up 22% and 62% respectively compared to the previous year.

In its report for the first six months of this year, the logistics giant saw its revenue drop slightly by 3% to VND1,814 billion due to the sluggish maritime market. However, its net profit target skyrocketed by 245% to VND2,493 billion. The main reason was the unusual profit from the sale of capital at Nam Hai Dinh Vu Port.

According to the market share report in the first half of the year, Gemadept accounted for 18% of output in the North, 32% of output in the Central region and 19% of market share in southern seaports.

With the recent sale of Nam Hai Dinh Vu port, Gemadept is maintaining large financial resources for investment plans in other super ports. The total value of cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits on the balance sheet has now increased to over VND2,300 billion (an increase of nearly VND900 billion compared to the beginning of the year).

Therefore, the leaders of this enterprise are planning to invest in phase 3 of Nam Dinh Vu Port Cluster to put into operation in 2025. When completed, this will be the largest river port cluster in the North, able to receive feeder ships and the largest Intra-Asia ships in the river port area.

Gemalink Port is also completing related procedures, arranging capital to implement construction, ready to put phase 2 into operation from 2024-2025, thereby increasing capacity to 3 million TEU/year, with an investment capital of 300 million USD.

GMD shares are the brightest spot on the stock market as they have been continuously increasing, even reaching a historical peak of VND65,000/share on September 21, nearly one and a half times higher than at the beginning of the year. The company's market capitalization is now close to VND20,000 billion.

How 'strong' is the domestic enterprise that wants to build a $6.7 billion super port with an American partner? Gemadept currently owns 7 large port clusters across the country and still intends to expand the Nam Dinh Vu and Gemalink port clusters as well as invest in the Cai Mep Ha super port with an American partner.

Source