- We attended BWE’s AGM in Binh Duong Province on March 31. Overall, BWE’s management is maintaining its aggressive view regarding M&A and investment opportunities to develop water businesses in other provinces where it sees huge growth potential.

- Shareholders approved a 2023 stock dividend of 14% (i.e., 100 existing shares to get 14 additional shares), which is scheduled to be executed in 2023, in contrast to our current forecast for a 2023 cash dividend of VND1,400/share. In response to a shareholder’s question, BWE’s management stated that it plans to retain cash mainly for M&A and investment (~VND1.0tn for DNP Long An Water JSC M&A and further capital injection after M&A & others) as well as expanding the company’s distribution network (~VND900bn). BWE has a preliminary plan to pay a cash dividend again in 2024.

- The AGM approved 2023 guidance for revenue of VND3,970bn (USD168mn; +14% YoY) and NPAT of at least VND720bn (USD31mn; -3% YoY), which is based on a minimum water sales volume of 186 million cbm (+3% YoY) compared to our assumption for 7% YoY growth. BWE’s 2023 revenue and NPAT targets account for 109% and 85% of our respective 2023 full-year forecasts. We note that BWE has beaten its profit guidance by around 20% on average over the past four years.

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