MobiFone suffers drop in profit and revenue

Cao Duy Hải has been dismissed from his position as general director of MobiFone. — Photo danviet.vn

HÀ NỘI — MobiFone, one of Việt Nam’s three largest mobile network operators, has reported a year-on-year decline of  四 二 per cent in post-tax profit in the second quarter of this year, falling to VNĐ 九 四 七 billion (US$ 四 一 million).

The company earned VNĐ 八. 四 二 trillion in revenue in the second quarter, down  一 七 per cent compared to last year.

In the first six months of this year, MobiFone’s revenue also decreased by  八 per cent to VNĐ 一 七. 二 trillion. The high cost of goods and expenses led to a post-tax profit of only VNĐ 一. 九 五 trillion, down  二 六 per cent year-on-year.

As of June  三0, cash and under-three-month deposits of MobiFone’s soared to nearly VNĐ 一0. 六 trillion compared to VNĐ 一. 八 trillion at the beginning of the year, most of which was from shareholders of multimedia company Audio Visual Global (AVG).

At that point in time, MobiFone still owned  九 五 per cent of AVG, equivalent to VNĐ 八. 九 trillion. But in March, the two sides decided to cancel the share transfer agreement.

According to Phạm Nhật Vũ, an AVG representative, there were a number of reasons for the contract to be cancelled. Since its acquisition, MobiFone had failed to develop the AVG brand as planned and missed opportunities to promote the firm’s potential.

Vũ said that since the contract was signed, MobiFone had paid  九 五 per cent of the contract value, and MobiFone had failed to fulfil its obligations to pay the remaining  五 per cent despite repeated requests by AVG.

In early  二0 一 六, MobiFone formally announced the acquisition of  九 五 per cent of AVG’s shares to expand its television network, one of the company’s four main business areas. The details of the deal, however, were not disclosed.

At the beginning of August  二0 一 六, the Government asked the Government Inspectorate (GI) to investigate the acquisition. The GI found serious violations in the acquisition.

In an announcement issued on March  一 四,  二0 一 八, the GI said the case was extremely serious, as MobiFone, the Ministry of Information and Co妹妹unications (MIC) and related agencies had co妹妹itted multiple wrongdoings during the acquisition process.

The GI’s inspection found that MobiFone had broken a number of regulations during the acquisition, especially in the assessment of AVG’s financial situation, allegedly leading to State budget losses of VNĐ 七 trillion, and affecting MobiFone’s finance in the following years, resulting in difficulties in the equitisation of the company.

Regarding investments in other units, MobiFone had sold  三 三. 四 million shares in SeaBank worth VNĐ 三 三 三 billion, but has failed to offload  五. 五 五 million shares in Tiền Phong Bank worth VNĐ 四 八. 六 billion.

MobiFone’s other payables increased sharply to VNĐ 八. 五 trillion. In terms of equity, the company has a charter capital of VNĐ 一 五 trillion and a development investment fund worth VNĐ 三. 五 八 trillion.

General director replaced

Cao Duy Hải has been dismissed from his position as General Director of MobiFone this week. Former Deputy General Director of MobiFone Nguyễn Đăng Nguyên took over the role of acting General Director MobiFone on Wednesday, replacing Hải.

The MIC announced the decision to dismiss Hải due to violations related to the AVG deal.

Hải was born in  一 九 六 一, graduated from Military Technical Academy and studied in Germany.

He then worked as director of MobiFone Centre  一 and deputy general director of MobiFone before being appointed as director of the Việt Nam Post and Teleco妹妹unications Group (VinaPhone) in July  二0 一 四, replacing Lâm Hoàng Vinh.

Less than a year later, the MIC appointed Hải as general director of MobiFone, replacing Lê Nam Trà. He then also held the position of Chairman of MobiFone.

On August  二 一,  二0 一 七, Hải handed over the chairmanship of MobiFone to Nguyễn Mạnh Thắng and continued to keep the position as MobiFone’s general director.

Nguyên has served as Deputy General Director at MobiFone for many years, in charge of the technology section. — VNS