South Korean confectionery manufacturer Orion said Friday it will receive a cash dividend of 110 billion won ($82.5 million) from its Vietnamese subsidiary for the first time since its establishment in 2005.
According to Orion, the company collected 50 billion won in dividends from Orion Food Vina Co., its wholly owned Vietnamese subsidiary, at the end of August.
This marks the first time that Orion has brought dividends into its head office in Korea from its Vietnamese subsidiary.
Orion said it is scheduled to receive additional dividends of 60 billion won from the Vietnamese subsidiary in October.
"We plan to use the total dividends to purchase sites in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, to build our logistics center, and also we plan on using the dividends to expand our existing factories and repay loans,” an Orion official said.
Orion, which started exports to Vietnam with its flagship Choco Pie in 1995, established the local subsidiary in Vietnam in 2005.
The subsidiary has since been extending a winning streak with record earnings. In 2022, it recorded its highest annual earnings, logging some 472 billion won in annual sales and 89 billion won in operating profits, and seeing 38.5 percent and 40.3 percent on-year growth, respectively.
“Our bestselling products in the Vietnamese market, which are potato-based snacks and Choco Pie, have logged some 70 billion won in sales and 120 billion won in sales, respectively, in 2022,” said the Orion official.
On the back of such high demand, "the company plans to add new production facilities to its existing factories, while reviewing plans to construct a third factory in Vietnam,” the official said.
Currently, Orion operates two factories in Vietnam, in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
