Every dividend season, the same question resurfaces across Vietnamese investor groups: “Should I buy HPG before Friday to get the dividend?” On Monday morning, May 11, 2026, both HPG and DHG enter their ex-dividend trading day. HPG pays a 5% cash dividend (VND 500 per share) alongside a 10% bonus share issuance, while DHG pays a 50% cash dividend (VND 5,000 per share). These two events are drawing significant attention from newer investors this week.
The short answer: whether to buy depends on your view of each company as a business. But if the only reason to buy is to “collect extra” dividends, that expectation misunderstands how stock markets actually work.
The Reference Price Adjusts Automatically: Nothing Is Added
Think of it this way: dividends are not a bonus the company hands out on top of your share price. They are a portion of value already embedded in the share price, extracted and returned to shareholders as cash (or bonus shares). The very moment the stock goes ex-dividend, the opening reference price drops by exactly that amount of value.
Under the rules of the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, when a company pays both cash dividends and bonus shares simultaneously, the adjusted reference price is calculated as follows:VnEconomy
Adjusted Reference Price = (Previous Closing Price − Cash Dividend per Share) ÷ (1 + Bonus Share Ratio)
Applied to HPG: the closing price on May 8 was VND 27,850 per share, cash dividend is VND 500, and bonus share ratio is 10%.Vietstock
(27,850 − 500) ÷ (1 + 0.10) = 27,350 ÷ 1.10 ≈ VND 24,864 per share
HOSE rounds to the nearest VND 50, so the actual opening reference price on May 11 will be approximately VND 24,850 per share, roughly VND 3,000 below the May 8 closing price.
The Math for 100 Shares: Total Value Stays the Same
This is the part many new investors miss. Suppose you bought 100 HPG shares on May 8 at VND 27,850, spending VND 2,785,000 in total. On the morning of May 11, your account splits into three components.
First, the 100 existing shares are now priced at approximately VND 24,864 each, totaling around VND 2,486,400. Second, you receive 10 bonus shares (the 10% bonus issuance) at the same price, worth approximately VND 248,640. Third, a VND 50,000 cash dividend will be deposited into your bank account on June 3.Tin Nhanh Chung Khoan
Add it up: VND 2,785,040, virtually identical to what you paid. The dividend does not increase your wealth. It converts value from the form of share price into cash and bonus shares.
The 5% Tax: The Real Cost of Buying Before Ex-Dividend
What many investors overlook is the 5% personal income tax on cash dividends. Under current regulations, the company withholds this tax at the time of payment, which for HPG is June 3.Bao Phap Luat
For our 100-share example: tax withheld = VND 50,000 × 5% = VND 2,500. You actually receive VND 47,500 in cash, not VND 50,000. This is the only real loss from buying before the ex-dividend date purely to collect cash dividends.
Bonus shares are not taxed when received. Capital gains tax only applies when you later sell those bonus shares on the market.
DHG on the Same Day: Simpler Mechanism, Larger Price Drop
Also on May 11 morning, DHG records its first 2025 cash dividend at a 50% ratio, or VND 5,000 per share.DNSE The expected payment date is May 28. Since DHG has no bonus share issuance, the formula is simpler: the May 11 reference price equals the May 8 closing price minus exactly VND 5,000.
A VND 5,000 drop is significant in absolute terms but operates on the same principle as HPG. DHG shareholders’ total ownership value before and after the ex-dividend date is nominally unchanged, minus the 5% tax on the cash received. DHG plans to pay another 50% cash dividend around September, bringing total 2025 dividends to 100% of par value (VND 10,000 per share).
When Buying Before Makes Sense, and When It Doesn’t
The right question is not “will I get the dividend.” It is: what is my view on this company as a business?
Buying before makes sense if you already wanted to own this company for the long term before the dividend event came along. The ex-dividend date is just a procedural step in that journey. You accept the 5% tax on the cash portion and in return receive bonus shares.
Buying after makes sense if you have no clear long-term view of the company and are primarily interested in price movement. Entering at the post-adjustment price avoids the 5% cash dividend tax obligation, and any subsequent upside potential remains fully intact if the company continues to perform well.
What you should not do is buy before the ex-dividend date solely because “there’s a dividend coming.” The cash you receive is deducted directly from the reference price, plus you owe tax on it.
HPG Paying Cash Dividends for the First Time in Four Years
The more significant signal on May 11 may not be the VND 500 cash dividend itself. What is worth examining more closely is that this is the first time Hoa Phat has paid a cash dividend in four years, since the 2022 payment. In 2025, the company cancelled the cash option due to concerns about the impact of global tariffs on steel exports.Vietstock
The total cash payout this round is approximately VND 3,838 billion across more than 7.68 billion shares outstanding. Combined with the 10% bonus share issuance, HPG will issue nearly 768 million new shares, diluting the share count in line with the reference price adjustment formula described above. The decision to resume cash dividends signals that management believes operating cash flow has stabilized, even as the steel export outlook remains uncertain.
For long-term investors, the figure that matters is not VND 500 per share on a single trading day. It is whether Hoa Phat can sustain the cash flows that generate these dividends over the years ahead. This year’s return to cash payments is a positive data point, but it warrants scrutiny against upcoming quarterly earnings.
Signals worth monitoring after May 11: HPG and DHG price action in the first post-adjustment sessions, Hoa Phat’s next quarterly earnings report, and the timing of DHG’s second dividend tranche around September.
