Vietnamese matchmaker Thong Nhat Match JSC plans to modernize operations due to dwindling sales. The company’s board said it would halt match production next year and delist its DTN shares from the unlisted public companies bourse (UPCoM).
Annual match sales hit near 100 million boxes last year, down 45 percent from 10 years earlier, and set to plummet further this year, a business report shows.
The domination of lighters is largely to blame for falling demand, along with the rising cost of wood, it added.
The company plans to focus on lighter production, though it sold only 80 percent of a targeted 18 million units last year.
Thong Nhat Match was established in 1956 as a state-owned company, operating the first factory in northern Vietnam. It was equitized in 2002, and now has charter capital of VND22 trillion ($950 million).
Its after-tax profit was VND2.27 billion ($98,000) in 2018, up 10 percent year-on-year.
The Thong Nhat matchbox, featuring a printed flying dove, boasts decades of popularity.
Alongside other traditional companies like Thuy Ta Ice-cream and Thuong Dinh Footwear, all operating over 60 years, Thong Nhat Match has been struggling to grow in the modern competitive market.