Masan Group Increases its 2021 Cash Dividend by 20% and Plans for a 5:1 Bonus Share Issuance
Ho Chi Minh City, 3 December 2021 – Masan Group Corporation (HOSE: MSN, “Masan”) today announced an increased to its cash dividend for the 2021 financial year by 20%, i.e., to VND1,200 per share. The additional VND200 per share would result in a combined VND250 per share to be paid in late December 2021 as VND950 per share has already been paid to shareholders on 16 July 2021. In combination with the increased cash dividend, Masan’s Board of Directors has approved to seek opinions of the General Meeting of Shareholders for the issuance of bonus shares at a 5:1 ratio to its existing shareholders as of the book-closing date.
Over the past two years, the company’s shareholders have remained patient as Masan implemented its turnaround plan for WinCommerce (“WCM”), laid the foundation for its “mini-mall” concept, and realigned the group business units to evolve into a pure consumer platform. Masan management view the aforesaid corporate actions as ways to reward shareholders while adhering to its balance sheet’s medium-term target, which has significantly strengthened in 2021. The issuance of bonus shares is also expected to benefit shareholders with improved trading liquidity since management believes the continued roll-out of its mini-mall concept will drive significant shareholder value creation.
Management has outlined a preliminary 2022 plan to re-expand the number of mini-market locations (Winmart+) by 700-1,000 in 2022 to reach 3,300-3,600 in total by year end. Masan also have plans to convert at least 50% of its existing Winmart+ locations into mini-malls, which currently combines WinMart+ (grocery), Phuc Long Kiosk (coffee and tea), pharmacy, Techcombank (financial services), and Reddi (mobile telecommunication) to provide consumers an integrated loyalty offering. Masan believes the mini-mall concept can drive value creation by:
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Improving profitability of WCM despite the costs of re-expansion as more products and services are offered to drive higher foot traffic;
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Accelerating the time for new stores to break-even via better unit economics due to revenue sharing schemes with kiosk brands;
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Strengthening its position in the south and rural regions; and
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Building a digital platform with Reddi at the core in order to transform Masan into a consumer-tech platform and generate new consumer, digital use cases that will lead to sustainable long-term growth.
In late December 2021, Masan and Masan Horizon expect to receive a cash dividend of VND1,406 billion from a subsidiary, Masan MEATLife, as part of the company’s overall treasury initiative to upstream excess to the group level.
The VND250 per share will represent VND295 billion in total cash and the bonus issuance will increase MSN share count by 236,106,938 to 1,416,641,630.
All corporate actions mentioned are subject to customary corporate and regulatory approvals.
MASAN GROUP CORPORATION
Masan Group Corporation (“Masan” or the “Company”) believes in doing well by doing good. The Company’s mission is to provide better products and services to the 100 million people of Vietnam, so that they can pay less for their daily essentials. Masan aims to achieve this by driving productivity with technological innovations, trusted brands, and focusing on fewer but bigger opportunities that impact the most lives.
Masan Group’s member companies and associates are industry leaders in branded fast moving consumer goods, branded meat, modern retail, F&B retail, financial services, telecommunications, and value-add chemical processing, altogether representing segments of Vietnam’s economy that are experiencing the most transformational growth.
CONTACTS:
Investors/Analysts
Tanveer Gill
T: +84 28 6256 3862
Media
Van Pham
T: +84 90 9216 292
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Masan’s expectations, intentions or strategies that may involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements, including Masan’s expectations, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond Masan’s control, which may cause Masan’s actual results of operations, financial condition, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions, future events or promises of future performance.