Himadri shares soar 59 times in four months

Infographic: TBS

The shares of Himadri Ltd, listed on the SME platform of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), have surged over 59 times in the last four months without any valid reason influencing the price.

According to data from the DSE, the shares closed at Tk2,096.40 each on Wednesday, marking a 5,889% increase from Tk35 on 26 April.

As a result, its market capitalisation increased by 48 times to reach Tk142.94 crore on 23 August.

In May, the Dhaka bourse asked the company to explain the reason for the unusual share price hike. In response, it said its three directors sold some shares through the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) in April. After that, there was no other information that might have influenced the price.

Company Secretary Jahirul Islam told The Business Standard, "We have no relation to the pricing of shares of the company in the secondary market of stock exchanges."

According to the data, Himadri's three directors Nahar Ahmed, Eshraq Raihan Ahmed and Eshtiaque Ahmed together sold 2.04 lakh shares of the company to comply with the securities regulator's direction.

The company has only 7.50 lakh shares, where sponsors and directors held 65.72%, the government owned 1.48% and general investors held 32.80% as of 30 June.

In August last year, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) asked the company's sponsors and directors to offload more shares in the secondary market of the SME platform.

Incorporated in 1974, Himadri Limited mainly provides cold storage facilities for agro-based products such as potatoes in the north of Bangladesh.

Currently, it has six potato cold storages in Rangpur, Bogura, Joypurhat, Thakurgaon, Gaibandha, and Dinajpur.

In September 2021, Himadri Limited was shifted from the over-the-counter (OTC) market to the SME platform. On the OTC market, the company's shares were last traded on 8 March 2014.