Vietnam's fourth largest joint stock commercial bank by chartered capital will list on the local stock market this week. Military Bank will trade 730 million shares (trading code MBB) on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on November 1 with an initial price of VND13,800 per share. Analysts contacted by VIR said the starting price set for Military Bank's debut was reasonable compared with its listed peers and given the stock market's doldrums "Military Bank has better assets quality than banks of similar scale. Its non-performing loan ratio (NPL) is 1.66 per cent, while the figure for the whole banking system is 3.1 per cent based on Vietnam's accounting standards. Its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) is 11.6 per cent, higher than the 9 per cent minimum figure that the central bank requires," said Nguyen Tuan, an analyst at StoxPlus, a financial information service firm. Despite a rocky local economy, Military Bank still had good financial health. In comparison with eight listed banks, … [Read more...] about MBB adds choice to investors’ shopping list
Accommodation choices
Stix dishes up ‘East meets West’ choices
Stix's executive chef Nguyen Dang Huy with 18 years' experience and his team will dish up foods to the orders of guests, from finger foods for cocktail receptions to Asian or Western-style parties of foods served at tables at indoor and outdoor areas of the four-story eatery on the corner of Le Quy Don and Nguyen Dinh Chieu streets. Huy said he and his team would combine Vietnam's lemongrass, lotus seeds, coconut, banana, sour star-fruit with sauces and ingredients of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and India as well as European countries to spice up Vietnamese grouper, shrimp grilled with plum sauce and other seafood choices or Alaskan king crab, Norwegian salmon sautéed with chestnuts and white wine, just a few of fusion foods to name. … [Read more...] about Stix dishes up ‘East meets West’ choices
Free and easy choice for all travelers
Free and easy choice for all travelers By Xuan Lam in HCMC HCMC-based Ben Thanh Tourist launched a new service earlier this month called Free & Easy Travel all local and foreign tourists, and in particular Overseas Vietnamese who are planning to return home for Lunar New Year 2009. While the premise is now new, some travel companies in HCMC are already arranging similar services for travelers, Ben Thanh Tourist pointed out that it offers more choices and is expanding the tour routes for tourists. She said that individual tourists and those wanting to travel in small groups are interested in this service because they can arrange more personalized tours. "Customers can call my company to ask for the free and easy service for booking air tickets or hotel rooms, and any other options they want to pre-arrange, and then plan their own vacation around these bookings" Minh said. The tour operator has also launched a series of short-stay and long-stay tours. These include the three-day … [Read more...] about Free and easy choice for all travelers
Accommodating desires
The rapid development of golf courses in Vietnam is taking over large tracts of land but the area used for the actual course is only a small part of golf projects. There has been a lot of public concern about the huge amount of golf course developments now in Vietnam. Much of the criticism surrounds the environmental impact of the courses, which use huge amounts of water, and there are are also concerns about the impact of the large number of housing properties within the projects. At the "Golf Courses and Green Construction" conference organised by the Vietnam Construction Association in Hanoi in May 2009, the issue of land loss from golf course construction was spoken of by many representatives. Golf courses require land; on average about 203 hectares for each project. After an inspection of golf courses nationwide in May this year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) reported that 59 of the 90 golf course projects in the master plan had a total of 15,653 hectares of … [Read more...] about Accommodating desires
Spoilt for choice
A picturesque setting, luxury accommodation and top services make Vinpearl Luxury Da Nang a dream holiday paradise. Located on Non Nuoc Beach, one of the six most beautiful beaches on the planet (as voted by Forbes magazine), and overlooking the vast ocean with its back resting upon the majestic Marble Mountain range, Vinpearl Luxury Da Nang has become a new ideal holiday destination for holidaymakers since opening in July. … [Read more...] about Spoilt for choice