At the annual meeting on 6/6, investors questioned the leadership of VNG Corporation (stock code: VNZ) about the sluggish performance of its shares, despite the company's leadership in the technology sector.

VNG currently has about 30 million shares trading on the UPCoM market. However, the average liquidity over the last 10 trading sessions has been less than 1,000 shares. The closing price this weekend was 317,000 dong, approximately 13% lower than at the beginning of the year and a sharp decline from its record high of nearly 1,500,000 dong when it first listed.

VNG Chairman Le Hong Minh stated that the current share price does not fully reflect the company's value due to several reasons. First, share liquidity is consistently low. This stems from a policy not to issue additional shares when VNG listed in 2023. Consequently, the shareholder structure primarily consists of institutions and long-term employees through the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

"When the price drops, these individuals are reluctant to sell, leading to low liquidity. Low liquidity then makes it harder to attract new investors", Minh said.

The second reason, according to Minh, is that VNG's leadership is hesitant to make grand statements or promises to stimulate share demand. He maintains the view that serious work and creating quality products for consumers will improve financial indicators, rather than focusing on "polishing" the shares.

However, the head of VNG's Board of Directors admitted that the company had not performed well in providing business information to investors in the past. He committed to improving this in the coming period, while also meeting statutory criteria for listing shares on an official exchange (either HoSE or HNX).

VNG Chairman Le Hong Minh at the annual meeting on 6/6. *Photo: VNG*

VNG projects revenue this year to range from 12,500-13,500 billion dong, with pre-tax profit between 300-450 billion dong. This marks the first time the company has set a profit target since its stock market listing, ending a loss streak that began in 2021. This year's target is on track, as the company recorded 2,785 billion dong in revenue and 125 billion dong in after-tax profit in the first three months.

VNG does not plan to distribute dividends. According to the leadership, the 558 billion dong in undistributed profit will be retained for investment and product development activities.

Regarding future development strategy, Minh stated that artificial intelligence (AI) is significantly impacting VNG's business decisions. Its influence surpasses that of previous technology waves like the Internet boom in the early 2000s and smartphones in the early 2010s. VNG aims to develop pure AI products, but this is not an immediate priority.

"The most important task now is to integrate AI into existing products and optimize operations", Minh shared.

For example, in online gaming, AI shortens content creation time from several weeks to a few hours and automates game release processes. The Zalopay payment application uses AI for automated customer service, reducing response time from 10 minutes to a few seconds, while increasing the effectiveness of detecting abnormal transactions by 60%.

According to Minh, in the AI era, VNG is not developing products or applications exclusively for a single customer segment. Instead, they are building a digital ecosystem comprising connectivity, payment, entertainment platforms, and artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company's leadership believes this ecosystem is unique among businesses in Southeast Asia currently.

By Phuong Dong