Fate of Imam Button, Savar Refractories to be decided after polls

The fate of Imam Button and Savar Refractories will be decided after the national polls, which were found to have no potential to return to profit in a recent probe of the Dhaka bourse.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange in August identified 15 companies that paid no dividends to its shareholders, at least for the last five years.

The premier bourse conducted an investigation on five companies in the first phase and sent the report to the stockmarket regulator for its consultation.

But the BSEC wants DSE not to take any decision for Imam Button and Savar Refractories before the upcoming general election, said a top official of BSEC preferring anonymity.

Among the five, the DSE found Kay & Que, Meghna Pet Industries and Meghna Condensed Milk have slight possibility to come to profitability in future.

The rest 10 firms are: ICB Islamic Bank, Dulamia Cotton, Samata Leather, Shyampur Sugar Mills, Zeal Bangla, Beximco Synthetics, Jute Spinners, Shinepukur Ceramics, Sonargaon Textiles and Information Services Network.

When the investigation started in the first week of August, both Kay & Que and Information Services Network declared 5 percent dividends and saved themselves from getting delisted.

“The commission wants to be very strict on the bad performers as these create a negative impression on the foreign investors and are used for market manipulation,” said the official.

Contacted KAM Majedur Rahman, managing director of DSE, said they will continue its review programme on the other companies in phases and decisions will be taken as per the listing regulations.

Stock exchanges can delist any company and the listing regulations have given the power to the bourses, said Saifur Rahman, spokesperson and executive director of the BSEC. “We are reviewing the DSE report on five companies. We will give our opinion soon,” he said.

Industry experts said the BSEC should take some initiatives to ensure that the sponsors and directors of the poor performing stocks are made accountable for their actions and the stock investors do not get affected.

Earlier, the DSE delisted Rahima Food Corporation and Modern Dyeing and Screen Printing for keeping their operations closed for three years.

About Tk 50 crore of the general investors' money got stuck because of the delisting, according to market insiders.