HCMC- based AA Corporation, also known as AA Construction Architecture Joint Stock Co, says it is doing good business, with the value of contracts won over the past six months amounting to US$5 million.

AA general director Nguyen Quoc Khanh says 40% of the sum comes from deals with foreign partners.

Among the foreign customers are the 250-room five-star ZamZam Hotel in Saudi Arabia with a US$1.2-million deal, Sloane Clue in London with a US$200,000 contract and an apartment building project in the US with US$600,000.

AA started designing the interior construction projects overseas in 2000, when the company opened a Vietnamese restaurant in the US as well as the supplied high-class interior furniture for this market. Thereafter, the company shipped furniture for this market to the UK, Asia, the Middle East and Russia.

AA has won tenders to provide design and interior decoration services for six restaurants in Britain and Belgium. The latest contract is with the Amansara Resort of Aman in Cambodia’s Siem Reap.

On the home market, AA has emerged as a key supplier of interior decoration services for big-name hotels in HCMC, Hanoi and elsewhere in the country, including Park Hyatt, Caravelle and Sheraton Saigon in HCMC, and Sheraton Hanoi and Intercontinental in Hanoi, Novotel hotels in Dalat and Phan Thiet, Ana Mandara Resort in Nha Trang, Khaisilk’s restaurant chain, and six-star Nam Hai Resort in Hoi An.

The interior of Indochina Resort in Hoi An town designed by AA Corporation

The company’s Long An Province-based factory, which employs more than 1,400 people, sells high-class indoor furniture to Europe, the U.S. and Japan.

Its export target for this year is US$3.5 million, but if the value of service contracts with foreign customers is included, the figure will be US$6.5 million, including interior furnishing contracts in foreign markets. The annual export growth rate ranges from 20% to 30% a year.

The company’s Nha Xinh furniture stores last year registered total revenue of VND75 billion (US$4.7 million.)

As Vietnam is set to become a World Trade Organization member after the National Assembly ratifies the protocol on the country’s accession, AA is more confident in competing with foreign rivals in the high-class furniture market, said general director Khanh. This confidence is contributable to the prestige it has built and the workforce of more than 70 professional architects, engineers and designers.

“We plan to expand foreign markets, especially the U.S., to gain stronger export growth,” he said.

To enhance the quality of products and services as well as make its indoor furniture retail network in the country more professional, AA has been applying a quality management system that meets ISO 9001:2000 standards since last year. Certification firm Intertek Vietnam is set to grant an ISO 9001:2000 certificate to AA today.

“We want to fulfil our pledge to local and foreign customers of ensuring the quality of products and services. This ISO accreditation will be a passport for the company to further expand operations in the global market,” Khanh said.

(The Saigon Times Daily – November 10, 2006)