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Bau Duc, chairman of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company (HAGL), said the company’s 20,000-hectare coffee project would require about 14,000–15,000 billion VND. He added that funding would be sourced from retained earnings, IPOs of subsidiary companies, and fundraising at the parent company, amid questions from shareholders about HAGL’s ability to mobilize capital following its recent restructuring.
At HAGL’s shareholders’ meeting, many investors raised concerns about the feasibility of financing the large-scale 20,000-ha coffee plan. In response, Doan Nguyen Duc said the key issue is not money but the land bank, arguing that for large-scale agricultural projects—especially Arabica coffee—securing suitable land is decisive because “money without land cannot be deployed.”
He said Arabica coffee is suitable only in areas with elevation of at least about 700 meters above sea level. HAGL selected the Bolaven region in Laos, where average elevation is around 1,200 meters, comparable to Da Lat. To date, the company has prepared about 85% of the total 20,000-hectare plan.
Mr. Duc said the funding question is controllable and that HAGL’s financial plan is built on three pillars: retained earnings, IPOs of subsidiary companies, and fundraising at the parent company.
For 2026, HAGL plans to allocate about 5,000 billion VND for investment. This would be deployed over three years to help maintain cash flow balance, within total capital needs of more than 14,000 billion VND for the coffee project. The company also plans to pay dividends of only 500 VND per share to prioritize reinvestment.
In 2025, HAGL posted net profit of about 2,243 billion VND, mainly from bananas and durians. Pig farming had almost stopped, and some other investments were not yet effective. For 2026, the company targets profit of 4,200 billion VND, but Mr. Duc said the profit structure needs to be clarified to reflect its true nature.
He noted that a substantial portion of expected profit is anticipated to come from financial items, including an over 1,000 billion VND reversal after settling obligations with the Debt Trading Company, along with about 1,000–2,000 billion VND from asset sales. As a result, aggregating projected profits into operating activities would be inaccurate. Core operations are expected to contribute about half, supported by four main segments: bananas, durians, coffee, and pig farming.
Compared with the previous year—when cash flow mainly came from bananas and durians—2026 is expected to bring back pig farming and start coffee. However, coffee and durians have not yet reached their maximum harvest phase, leaving growth potential for the coming years.
Alongside business operations, HAGL is advancing its capital-raising plans through IPOs of its subsidiaries. Hoang Anh Gia Lai International Investment Joint Stock Company, the unit managing projects in Laos, is identified as a key funding source for the coffee project. The subsidiary has maintained stable profits over the past 3–4 years, with a minimum target of 400 billion VND this year.
Mr. Duc said the IPO dossier has essentially been completed and could be deployed in Q2 if market conditions are favorable. After the IPO, HAGL plans to sell 20–25% of the stake while maintaining control. He described this as an “extremely important source of funds” among the three financial pillars, alongside retained earnings and fundraising at the parent company.
HAGL also plans to IPO the Coffee Corporation (renamed from Lo Pang Company) in 2029, after completing the initial phase of investment and bringing the 20,000-ha cultivation into operation, to optimize value before market entry.
On the financial footing, HAGL said its indicators improved significantly after restructuring. The debt-to-equity ratio fell to about 0.86x, debt-to-total assets stood at about 0.46x, and the leverage ratio (debt-to-equity) declined to 0.56x. Total borrowings were reduced from about 36,000 billion VND to around 7,900 billion by the end of 2025. The company also said it eliminated accumulated losses and settled all bond obligations at the start of 2026.
Against this backdrop, HAGL targets revenue of 8,624 billion VND and net profit of 4,202 billion VND for the year, which it said would be the highest ever if achieved.
While Mr. Duc said operations have improved, he added the business still needs more time to regain market confidence. He said the priority now is to maintain financial discipline and implement investments prudently, based on lessons learned during more than a decade of restructuring.
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