Another foreign fund group exits substantial shareholder position in Vietnamese jeweler PNJ

Before the change, the group held more than 19.75 million PNJ shares, equal to 5.79 percent of the jeweler’s charter capital.

Afterward, its holdings rose to over 25.44 million PNJ shares, but the ownership ratio fell to 4.97 percent, dropping below the five-percent threshold for major shareholders.

The shift occurred after PNJ completed a bonus share issuance of more than 170.57 million shares at a 2:1 ratio in early May, raising the total voting shares to over 511.7 million.

Member funds showed varied trading activities.

T. Rowe Price International Discovery Fund increased its holdings from 7.53 million to nearly 11 million PNJ shares, while T. Rowe Price International Small-Cap Equity Trust added 852,800 shares.

TAM AU Global Growth Equity acquired 957,400 shares.

Meanwhile, Delaware Public Employees’ Retirement System sold all 1.25 million PNJ shares, while T. Rowe Price Global Equity Fund, T. Rowe Price Funds SICAV, and T. Rowe Price Global Growth Stock Fund reduced their holdings by more than 230,000 shares, nearly 195,200 shares, and 178,500 shares, respectively.

Earlier in July, VinaCapital and Dragon Capital also lost their major shareholder status in PNJ after lowering their stakes below five percent.

VinaCapital sold nearly 3.1 million PNJ shares on July 8, reducing its stake to 4.99 percent.

Dragon Capital cut its holdings from 25.84 million to 23.33 million PNJ shares, lowering its stake from 5.05 percent to 4.5 percent.

Within less than a month, three foreign investor groups have therefore ceased to be major shareholders of PNJ.

In related news, PNJ’s board recently reappointed Do Thi Ngoc Thanh as the company’s corporate governance officer for a two-year term starting August 1.

She and her related parties hold no PNJ shares.

The reappointment comes amid turbulence following the arrest of Dang Ngoc Thao, former director of PNJ’s wholly-owned gemstone certification subsidiary P-Lab, in a transnational diamond smuggling case earlier this month.

Police alleged that Thao and 21 other suspects imported more than 28,000 diamonds into Vietnam in 141 shipments since 2024, generating an estimated VND280 billion (US$10.65 million) in revenue.

Authorities seized about 1,100 diamonds during searches of 20 locations and said the investigation was continuing.

PNJ chairwoman Cao Thi Ngoc Dung assured investors during an online meeting on July 6 that 28,000 smuggled diamonds did not enter PNJ’s distribution system, stressing that PNJ only imports through official channels from Thailand and Hong Kong.

PNJ then formed a special supervisory team, hired an international firm to assess diamond quality, and launched a share buyback plan.

Since July 21, PNJ has implemented a deferred payment policy for nationwide buyback transactions, allowing customers to receive payment in five installments over 120 days or convert diamond jewelry into gold.

The company has spent more than VND7 trillion ($265 million) buying back diamonds and gold from customers, encouraging them to exchange their products for other items, including gold, instead of receiving cash.

After seven days under the new policy, PNJ reported revenue of VND1.393 trillion ($53 million) and buybacks worth VND1.162 trillion ($44 million).

Up to 95 percent of its customers opted to exchange their products for gold rather than wait 120 days to receive cash payments.

PNJ said cash flow had improved compared with the first half of July, while consumer demand for jewelry remained stable, describing the trend as an encouraging sign despite ongoing challenges.

PNJ has tightened inventory management, optimized product turnover, and adjusted production to meet market demand.

It also maintains unused credit lines and is prioritizing resources for the year-end peak season.

PNJ also reported second-quarter 2026 financial results, with net revenue of VND8.484 trillion ($322 million) but a net loss of VND283 billion ($10.7 million).

The company said the quarterly loss mainly resulted from prudent provisioning and did not reflect any deterioration in its core business operations.

For the first half of 2026, PNJ posted net revenue of VND25.729 trillion ($978 million), up over 49 percent year on year, while net profit reached VND1.256 trillion ($48 million), an increase of 6.3 percent.

Its gross profit margin during the first half stood at 19.4 percent, down from 21.4 percent a year earlier, while net profit margin declined to 4.6 percent from 6.5 percent, mainly because the company set aside VND865 billion ($33 million) in provisions related to buyback transactions conducted in July.

"The provisioning reflects our prudent risk management principles, ensuring transparency in our financial statements and protecting the long-term interests of shareholders," PNJ said.