Context: How Suriname Stock Exchange works, and what it makes issuers disclose · Suriname on the LatAm Power Map
In a country of barely 600,000 people, one family-founded company touches almost every corner of the economy — moving your cargo, packaging your soap, baking your margarine, and insuring your home. VSH United has done it for nearly seven decades, and it is still growing.
| Full name | N.V. Verenigde Surinaamse Holdingmij. / United Suriname Holding Company |
|---|---|
| Ticker / Exchange | VSHUNITED — Suriname Stock Exchange (SSX) |
| Headquarters | Van ‘t Hogerhuysstraat 9-11, Paramaribo, Suriname |
| Sector | Diversified holding company — logistics, trading, foods, real estate, detergents, services & investment |
| Employees | Not published: not disclosed on the company investor-relations page or the SSX listing |
| Market value (market cap) | SRD 5.56 billion / US$5.56 billion (our calculation: SRD 2,800 (US$3 k)share price × ~1,986,000 shares; FX 1 USD = 1 SRD as supplied; share count from H1 2021 report) |
| Yearly sales (revenue) | Not published: see financial disclosure note below |
| Net profit | Not published: see financial disclosure note below |
| Net margin | Not published: see financial disclosure note below |
| Return on equity | Not published: see financial disclosure note below |
| Price-to-earnings ratio | Not published: see financial disclosure note below |
| Dividend yield | Not published: see financial disclosure note below |
| Share price (last trade) | SRD 2,800.00 / US$2,800.00 (SSX, last trade 22 June 2026) |
| Website | vshunited.com |
What it is
VSH United was established on 26 August 1958 and has grown into one of the most diversified groups in Suriname, with principal activities spanning logistics, trading, manufacturing, real estate, and services. It operates in four countries: Suriname (headquarters), Guyana, the United States, and the Netherlands.
The group leads in seven market segments — trading, logistics, steel construction, foods, real estate, investment, and detergents — and through associated companies is also involved in the insurance and hotel business. The Paramaribo headquarters provides strategy, financial and administrative services, and acts as legal and human-resource counsel to all 22 subsidiaries, each of which is an independent operating company.
Among its associated holdings, VSH United owns a 25.242% stake in Assuria N.V., the largest insurance company in Suriname, offering life, property and casualty, and health insurance across Suriname, Guyana, and Trinidad. It also has an interest in the Torarica hotel group, which operates three hotels along the Suriname River — Torarica Resort, Eco Torarica, and Royal Torarica.
Who owns it
VSH was founded in 1958 by Jim Healy and Leo Tjin a Djie, and the Healy family has guided the group ever since — from founder Jim Healy through Patrick Healy, who served as CEO and managing director for many years, to the current generation. VSH United holds 63% of the shares in its listed subsidiary N.V.
VSH Foods, illustrating the layered holding structure the group uses across its subsidiaries.
Not published: the exact percentage ownership held by the Healy family and other controlling shareholders in VSH United itself is not disclosed on the Suriname Stock Exchange listing page, the company’s investor-relations pages (vshunited.com/financials), or in the portions of the annual reports accessible via web retrieval. Suriname’s 2014 Law Capital Market (Wet Kapitaalmarkt) requires transparency in financial reporting for listed companies, but granular shareholder-register data is not posted publicly online.
The company’s free float — the portion of shares tradable by the public — is not stated in available sources.
Who runs it
The company’s chief executive is Kathleen M. Healy (CEO), who leads a management team that also includes M.
Ramsundersingh as Chief Legal Officer and P. Brahim as Chief Financial Officer.
The appointment of a Healy as CEO continues a family tradition stretching back to the founding generation.
The supervisory board — the oversight layer above management, equivalent to a non-executive board of directors — is chaired by Diana R. Halfhide; other members include Kenneth R.
Lim A Po, Philip Fernandes (CEO of John Fernandes Ltd, Guyana), Naomi van Essen-Tjin-A-Dje, Magalie Loswijk-Keerveld, and Rolf Verwey, all confirmed on the company’s governance page.
The money, in plain words
Not published: consolidated revenue, net profit, net profit margin, return on equity, and the price-to-earnings ratio for VSH United for any year from 2021 to 2024 could not be retrieved in numeric form. The company’s annual reports for 2022, 2023, and 2024 are confirmed to exist and are available for download at vshunited.com/financials; however, the PDF files did not parse in this research session.
The Suriname Stock Exchange (surinamestockexchange.com) displays share prices but does not publish financial-statement data online. Suriname’s Wet Kapitaalmarkt (2014) requires listed companies to file audited financial statements, but no online regulator database was found that reproduces those figures in machine-readable form.
Readers seeking the numbers should download the 2024 Annual Report directly from vshunited.com/financials.
What can be said: the most recent traded share price on the SSX was SRD 2,800.00 (US$3 k)(last trade 22 June 2026), implying a market value of approximately SRD 5.56 billion / US$5.56 billion at the 1:1 FX rate supplied — a meaningful size for a frontier-market holding company. VSH Investment, a subsidiary, has operated as a certified broker on the Suriname Stock Exchange since November 1997, meaning the group both lists and trades on the same bourse.
What it is doing now
In line with governance guidelines, VSH Foods — a separately listed subsidiary — completed its first IFRS-compliant financial close for the year 2022, as required by Suriname’s new law on annual reporting effective 1 January 2022. This shift to international accounting standards applies across the group and is the most significant governance upgrade in recent years.
On the ground, the most recent material move is a technology overhaul: after 24 years on the same enterprise system, the group completed its ERP replacement and launched ODOO across all Suriname wholly-owned subsidiaries on 1 January 2025, as disclosed on the company’s own history page. In parallel, construction of the VSH Commercial Complex in Georgetown, Guyana began in May 2023, extending the group’s real-estate footprint into the fast-growing Guyanese market.
What to watch
- Guyana growth: The Government of Guyana reported real GDP growth of 14.5% for the first half of 2021, and the oil boom has only accelerated since. VSH’s logistics, real estate, and trading arms are positioned directly in that corridor — how much Guyana contributes to consolidated results will define the next chapter.
- Financial transparency: The Suriname Stock Exchange trades only twice a month, and the SSX does not publish detailed financial data online. As Suriname’s capital market matures, pressure for fuller digital disclosure will grow; investors should monitor whether VSH’s IFRS transition translates into more accessible public reporting.
- Currency risk: Suriname’s Surinamese dollar has a history of sharp devaluations — the SRD fell from roughly SRD 8 (US$8)to SRD 21 (US$21)per US dollar between early 2020 and mid-2021. A company earning largely in SRD but carrying USD-denominated obligations bears real currency exposure that the share price alone does not reflect.
- Succession and governance: The Healy family is now in its third generation of leadership. How ownership and control evolve — and whether a formal family-governance or shareholder-registry disclosure follows — is a key watch point for any outside investor.
Sources
- VSH United — About / Leadership / Corporate Governance page (primary)
- VSH United — Financials / Annual Reports page (primary)
- VSH United Annual Report 2022 (PDF, primary; text fragments retrieved via search index)
- VSH United Half-Year Report 2021 (PDF, primary; text retrieved via search index)
- Suriname Stock Exchange — live price board (primary; price as at 22 June 2026)
- Wikipedia — Suriname Stock Exchange (secondary; exchange structure and Wet Kapitaalmarkt)
- Market data: EODHD (no financials available for VSHUNITED.SR in this dataset).
This is news, not investment advice.
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