Mongolia's blue chip stock

Good morning! Special greetings to all the women around the world on your special day tomorrow. Don’t forget that you are the apple of our eyes and enjoy yourselves to the fullest! 

  📌 DID YOU KNOW?

About the Mongolian women in power: 

• 51% of all executives working in Ulaanbaatar are female. (National Statistics Office)

• Mongolian queens played significant roles in the course of the Mongol Empire's history. Some of them are honored on the same level as the Khans. (TED-Ed)

• We now have the highest number of female ambassadors than ever before - 6 out of 31. (The Diplomat)

• 13 out of the 76 members of the State Great Khural are women, which means female politicians make up  17% of the parliament. In comparison to the U.S., that's about 10% less. 

 🟦 APU - MONGOLIA'S BLUE CHIP STOCK

While America has Coca-Cola (KO) and Japan has Suntory Beverage & Food (2587.T), Mongolia has APU (APU). Becoming the first company in the history of the Mongolian stock market to reach a market cap of $705 million (₮ 2 Trillion), APU has cemented itself as Mongolia’s leading blue chip stock. Let’s explore what this company is all about.

What do they do?

APU has a 60-year history in a wide range of areas including water, softdrinks, dairy, vodka and beer. Notably, with their technology and methods, they have gained 83% of the vodka and 91% of the beer industry in Mongolia. Going forward, they are looking to export their alcoholic beverages around the world.

Finances

• Revenue increase of 36% to $233 million (₮ 669 billion) in 2021.

• Dividends totaling $39 million (₮ 112.7 billion) will be distributed from profits in 2021. They pay dividends twice a year, and in 2021 they will pay $0.037 per share. You can’t find any company in Mongolia that pays this much in dividends. 

Who owns APU? 

APU has a total of 1.1 billion shares traded on the market. Looking at the structure, Shunkhlai Group owns 56% of the company. Other influential shareholders are Heineken with 25% and Steppe Beverage KFT with 13%. The remaining 6% is owned by public shareholders with less than 5% ownership, which has increased by 84% over the past year to 13,733. The presence of Heineken, one of the world’s largest companies, will undoubtedly take governance standards to the next level and allow APU to go far beyond other domestic companies.

What’s next? 

Domestic: With 31% of the domestic dairy market right now, APU is looking to expand their share further through innovation and new product development. 

International: In recent years, APU has successfully exported alcohol and beer products to China and Russia, selling them through 326 Russian outlets, 138 Chinese stores and online stores. In the first half of 2021, sales in China increased six times compared to the same period last year, and sales in Russia doubled. APU also aims to generate 20% of sales revenue from exports over the next five years.

By now, you can probably tell that APU is Mongolia’s dividend and blue chip stock. Given its track record, future prospects, and dividends, it should definitely be number one on your watch list.

📢 MONGOLIAN FILM FESTIVAL IN LONDON

If the villain from Mulan is the only cinematic representation of Mongolians that you can possibly think of, you should definitely consider watching some of our films. And if you’re currently in London, lucky you! Mongolian Film Days are coming to your city soon.

The specifics: 

• Date: 12 - 14 March 2022;

• Location: Rudolf Steiner Theatre;

• Tickets available HERE. 

Going with a date? In Mongolia, if you accidentally step on someone’s foot, you apologize by shaking their hand. So, you might as well “accidentally” step on your date’s foot during the film screenings as an excuse. 😉 Thank us later.

Have kids? For families we highly recommend the film “Steed” that depicts a story about a little boy and his pet horse who embark on a journey to find each other after being unwillingly separated. It’s very heartfelt, and if tears don’t come running after watching it, then we don’t know what would make you cry. 🥺

 ⚕️ HEALTHCARE'S FIGHT AGAINST PANDEMIC

We all remember March 11, 2020 by heart. It is the day The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic and the whole world went into shutdown. Restrictions kicked in a bit earlier for Mongolia as it closed all ports of entry from and into China on January 31. 

Unlike most countries experiencing their first wave of the pandemic shortly after, the situation was quite different in Mongolia. From the first imported incidence in March 2020, until November 2020, there was no local transmission. Mongolia was commended by the WHO for their effective containment of COVID-19 and actions taken so far by the government.

Current Situation

As of March 5, 2022, there have been 911,183 confirmed cases and 2,101 deaths in total. Vaccination rates are 69.8% for first dose, 66.8% for second dose, and 31.5% for booster. All the borders are open and there’s no isolation period for travel, only a mandatory PCR test in place. With everything going back to normal, life must seem to be back to where it was but we must not forget the immense effort of the healthcare staff who worked on the frontline everyday. 

Reality of Healthcare 

In spite of the fact that the healthcare budget has been increasing each year with $549 million for 2022, the percentage of health expenditure has been decreasing since 2000, hitting an all-time low of 5.6 % of government expenditure in 2020.  Although Mongolia has compulsory public health insurance in place, the quality and the accessibility have been a problem for many, leading the citizens to go to private organizations for better services. In the last 5 years, there are 1075 more health institutions,  92% of which are privately owned.

Exhausted Employees

There are 12431 doctors and 13112 nurses, making up 47% of the health care staff. In OECD countries on average there are 3 nurses to every doctor, compared to the 1.05 to 1 ratio in Mongolia. This highlights the extreme shortage of nurses and the adversities COVID has provided. Average salary for a nurse is $244,3 and the fatigue from working continuously for the past 2 years has left them impatient, demanding better wages. In fact, the entirety of the healthcare industry has been fighting for improved salaries, not just one-time payments between $350-$700 made by the government in support during the pandemic.

Better Future

Mongolia had their fair share of change such as the reappointment of the Minister of Health more than once during the pandemic. For better or worse, the pandemic has increased awareness and prompted actions such as increasing medical equipment, connecting local hospitals to an integrated network system, and starting to compensate resident doctors.

🏃 QUICK STORIES

📌 Ukrainians held peaceful protests in Ulaanbaatar (UB). Ukrainians living in the capital city took to the streets to protest the war in their home country. The crowd gathered before the Beatles monument in the center of UB and urged the media to source information from Ukrainian news agencies in order to help the audience see the bigger picture of the situation.

📌 Russia’s SWIFT exclusion could halt Mongolia’s foreign payments, says B.Lkhagvasuren, Governor of the Bank of Mongolia. Almost 100% of all oil products, along with lubricants, energy and key industrial materials are imported from Russia and paid through the SWIFT system. Hence, Russia’s exclusion presents a major risk to Mongolia’s cross-border payments. 

📌 Mongolian Economic Forum 2022’s theme - ‘New Revival Policy’. Having been suspended since 2018 due to the pandemic, the event will resume this year on April 7-8 within the frame of the ‘New Revival Policy’, a med-term program aimed at creating the basic conditions for the implementation of the long-range development policy ‘Vision-2050’.

📌 Agreement signed for launching exploration works for natural gas pipeline project. The deal was closed on February 28 by Deputy Prime Minister S.Amarsaikhan and Gazprom’s CEO Alexey Miller. ‘Gazoprovod Soyuz Vostok’ LLC and ‘Erdenes Mongol’ LLC will be in charge of carrying out all exploration works.

📌 Forecasted economic growth of 5.1% in 2022. Contrary to Bank of Mongolia’s projected growth of 4.5%, real economic growth was 1.4% in 2021. It was largely disturbed by unpredictable foreign policies which led to export disruptions, high transportation costs, not to mention rising inflation. Economy is to improve as it recovers from the pandemic in 2022.

🌿 SPONSORED BY

Exciting news for anyone who lives in the U.S.

Mongolia’s first organic skincare brand Lhamour has opened at Flying Solo, NYC.  The 100% handmade organic products made by zero-waste production are suited for any skin type and concern. Starting from Australia all the way to Singapore and now in the U.S., products ranging from the body to skincare are offered to users who care about themselves, others, and the environment.

Explore at:

• Flying Solo 

• Amazon 

📷 A GLIMPSE OF MONGOLIA

About: Just like New York’s called the concrete jungle, UB could, perhaps, bear the name of the yurt maze. If you haven’t stepped out of the downtown area it might not be so conspicuous, but the city’s encompassed by endless ger districts - residential areas where people live in felt yurts surrounded by wooden fences. Some of these areas are structurally very random, so unfamiliarity with all their nooks and crannies inevitably leads to confusion and the possibility of eventually being lost.

Food for thought: 

• Ger areas represent about 60% of the capital city’s population, estimated to be around 800,000 people.

• 85% of ger district households rely on wood or coal-burning stoves for warmth - a major contributor to air pollution.

• The districts have limited access to utilities and infrastructure.

• Numerous international and local initiatives have been proposed to improve the general well-being of these areas. 

In the end: 

With all the problems that ger districts face and create, they still represent the good-natured ambition of many young people who moved here in hopes of making it in the big city. That’s why it might be a good idea to sometimes focus on the distinctive charm of ger districts, rather than all the things that are wrong with them. 

ESSENTIAL LINKS

• Not sure where to eat in Ulaanbaatar? Food and drink reviews in English. (Dodddo0)

• 5 tips to survive Mongolia’s brutal winter. (Breathe Mongolia)

• Must know geography facts! (Geography Now)

• Are the Mongolian stereotypes true? (Real Mongolia)