The outstanding assets of more than VND18,000 billion have not been completely resolved
Although reporting a record profit of more than VND 12,700 billion in 2024, Sacombank is still under pressure from outstanding assets that have not been resolved. According to the latest report, the bank has resolved about 80.5% of outstanding assets, but there are still about 2.4% of total assets - equivalent to more than VND18,000 billion - that have not been processed.
This is the result of the restructuring period after the merger of SouthernBank in 2015, including many old bad debts and collateral that have been seized but cannot be liquidated. Of these, a significant part related to real estate assets are under liquidity pressure, along with assets with legal problems, which cannot be resolved quickly.
These assets are waiting for a handling plan approved by the competent authority. This has caused Sacombank's restructuring process to continue to drag on, despite efforts to recover and handle bad debts that have been made in recent years.
Prolonged commitment, shareholders have not received dividends
Since 2021, Sacombank's leaders have repeatedly made commitments at general meetings of shareholders to complete the restructuring project in 2023 to open a dividend payment route. At that time, Sacombank's Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Duong Cong Minh, affirmed: Sacombank is actively handling outstanding assets and will receive dividends immediately after completing the restructuring.
At the 2023 shareholders' meeting, the bank's board of directors continued to reaffirm the above goal, and said that the bank had submitted a plan to completely handle the remaining assets to the State Bank, pending approval.
However, in 2025, the asset block of more than VND18,000 billion has not been completely resolved. This means that Sacombank shareholders have not yet received dividends after 9 years of waiting.
In the documents of the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Sacombank said that for debts secured by STB shares of Mr. Tram Be and related parties, the bank has submitted handling plans and is waiting for approval from the State Bank. Sacombank has also set aside 100% of the principal balance of this bad debt, and completely withdrawn interest from the end of the second quarter of 2022.
This stock lot used to be a collateral for loans of Mr. Tram Be's group, and is now one of the biggest bottlenecks that has prevented Sacombank from closing restructuring books.
As a rule, Sacombank can only divide dividends after completing the restructuring and officially recognized by the State Bank. While the bad debt ratio has been well controlled, the biggest bottleneck is now the debt guaranteed by the STB shares of the old shareholder group. This is a bank asset that cannot be handled by itself but must wait for approval from the management agency about the specific settlement plan. This makes the restructuring process prolonged, and the dividend plan continues to be a big question mark for shareholders.
Sacombank said that handling the stock lot and recording the completion of restructuring still requires more time, depending on the approval progress from the management agency. While waiting for the final settlement of these problems, Sacombank's united profits continue to accumulate.
According to financial reports, by the end of 2024, Sacombank is holding back united tax profits of more than VND 28,400 billion - enough for the bank to divide dividends many times if allowed.
Potential risks from outstanding assets need to be cautious
Notably, although Sacombank's after-tax profit in 2024 increased sharply by 30.7% compared to the previous year, reaching more than VND 10,087 billion, STB shares have not yet had a clear breakthrough.
Currently, STB is trading around 35,000 - 36,000 VND/share, down from the peak of nearly 40,000 VND at the end of March.
Sacombank's EPS in 2024 reached VND 5,351/share, while the basic P/E was only 6.9 times, the valuation was quite low compared to many banks of the same scale. Sacombank's ROE reached 20.03%, showing good profitability. However, STB shares are still under pressure from the long process of handling outstanding assets and cautious sentiment due to macro fluctuations.
The delay in handling these outstanding assets has caused investors to face two parallel pressures: dividends are not yet available, and STB stock prices have not broken out.
In fact, when the real estate market has not improved and asset handling procedures are complicated, the ability of banks to quickly recover the remaining outstanding assets is a big challenge. If legal disputes are prolonged, they may also affect the progress of the restructuring project.
Investors wait for Sacombank to remove bottlenecks, not just a promise
After a series of promises and information creating "expectations" were given, many investors hope that the settlement of this asset block will not only help banks eliminate "blood spots" in the accounting balance sheet, but also pave the way for dividend division.
However, in the context of not having a specific deadline for approval, expectations are still running along with skepticism.
The market is still wondering whether Sacombank can remove this last bottleneck in a short time. If the handling continues to last, it is not ruled out that STB shares will continue to be under pressure, especially when investors' sentiment is now more sensitive to negative information.
Notably, up to now, Sacombank has not yet published any further information about the management agency's approval of the plan to handle outstanding assets. This raises concerns that the bank may continue to miss the dividend payment plan this year, as legal bottlenecks have not been resolved.
Investors expect the upcoming 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to clarify the progress of handling outstanding assets, as well as the direction of dividend division after many years of waiting. The developments at the congress will be an important test of market confidence in STB stocks.
