Nguyen Duy Hung attends Vinaseed AGM; calls for governance improvements and accountability to shareholders

At Vinaseed’s 2026 Annual General Meeting, Nguyen Duy Hung, chairman of the PAN Group, appeared and spoke in his capacity as a major shareholder. He said he has attended Vinaseed’s AGM a total of four times and, after listening to the management’s report and other shareholders’ opinions, reassessed what he had done in previous meetings.

Mr. Hung recalled that at each AGM there had been a consistently positive outlook, with expectations of growth and statements that the company was a leading player. However, he said that over the past six months he has felt the situation was not as positive as presented. He also acknowledged his own shortcoming: “I should have proposed governance changes earlier in the previous three terms, not waited until today. If we had changed governance in the prior three terms, things would be different, very different.”

Governance, transparency and shareholder expectations

Mr. Hung said shareholders do not only expect to attend the AGM to hear action plans, programs, or simple growth figures. In his view, a company’s potential can be unlocked beyond the numbers on the books. While he described 2025 as a challenging year due to global volatility, he said the results were still solid, implying the company’s true potential is larger if managed well in a difficult environment.

He urged shareholders and management to review whether the company has grown truly in line with market potential, whether costs have been optimized, whether investments have been directed appropriately, and whether wastage has occurred. He said wastage should be analyzed in two categories: “active wastage” and wasteful expenditures, noting that they are different.

Mr. Hung also raised a concern that in a tough year, revenue growth was not significant while profits rose substantially. He called for this to be clarified to provide a clear commitment to shareholders.

Three stakeholder groups and the meaning of fairness

In describing the company’s development priorities, Mr. Hung said he considers three key stakeholder groups.

• Employees: He said employees need opportunities to work, stable careers, and higher incomes next year to offset inflation, build savings, and support career advancement.
• Management, the board and the executive team: He said they want to develop the company and share the benefits of growth in a fair and transparent manner. He defined fairness as reviewing, sharing, and ensuring transparency as long as it complies with the law and full taxes are paid. He emphasized that the greatest fairness is fairness in taxation.
• Shareholders: He said that when considering the company’s market capitalization, it belongs to shareholders. He argued that if a company does not develop sustainably, does not have a solid foundation, and continues to pay dividends (even at high levels) without sufficient return on capital, then it does not fully cover the cost of capital. He said shareholders need retained assets that truly belong to the company—clear, transparent, sustainable, and not dependent on who is currently steering the ship.

He added: “If there are no shareholders, no one would put in capital; what would sustain the management and the board’s strategic planning? All of this must come from shareholder funds. If we all perform well, the first thing is to share back with the shareholders. But if we perform poorly, even tomorrow we may submit resignations, the board may resign, and ultimately the loss falls on the shareholders, right?”

Resignation concerns and calls for accountability

Mr. Hung said that because he is speaking as a shareholder, he requires greater transparency than anything else. He warned that if investors are not assured, they will sell their stakes to others.

He said that while he believes PAN shareholders have been supportive for 18 years without demanding excessive returns, a deeper look suggests that many matters may not be as transparent as the reports provided to shareholders over the years. He referenced “a wave of resignation requests,” saying: “For one person, one organization that has dared to take over businesses, I think someone is threatening to resign; those who are afraid are afraid; I, personally, am not afraid of those things. Whoever resigns is fine.”

He called on the current management and the board to clarify processes, responsibilities, and accountability down to individuals. He urged learning from mistakes and clarifying responsibilities to avoid repeating errors and to develop together.