BRB to buy another 1.93% shares of Eastern Cables
After completion of the fresh buying order, BRB Group will hold 23.66% shares of Eastern Cables
BRB Group is set to buy another 1.93% shares of the state-run cable manufacturer - Eastern Cables Limited - at the existing market price through the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in the block market within next 30 days.
Md Habibur Rahman, managing director of BRB Homes Limited, a sister concern of BRB Group, will buy 5.10 lakh shares of Eastern Cables. Currently, he is a general shareholder of the state-run company.
Earlier, BRB Cables and MRS Industries Limited, both of which are sister concerns of BRB Group and also corporate directors of Eastern Cables, bought 5.21 lakh and 5.25 lakh shares respectively.
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After completion of the fresh buying order, BRB Group will hold 23.66% shares of Eastern Cables.
This is a bid to establish monopoly in the huge domestic cable market, said a BRB Cables official requesting not to be named.
He said BRB now holds around 40% share of the domestic cable market.
After the news was revealed on the DSE website on Sunday, the share price of Eastern Cables increased by 5.30% and closed at Tk160.90 each at the DSE.
A senior officer of Eastern Cables said the company will hold its annual general meeting (AGM) on 8 February this year. At the meeting, some directors of the company will retire from the board. Now BRB wants to appoint more directors at the state-run company from its side.
Earlier in 2018, BRB Group bought 17.76% shares of Eastern Cables to secure directorship in the company.
Currently, BRB Cables Chairman Md Mozibar Rahman holds 13.59 lakh or 5.66% shares of Eastern Cables, while Director Shamsur Rahman owns 4.88 lakh or 2.04%, MRS Industries 12.24 lakh or 5.10%, and BRB Cables 11.96 lakh or 4.96%. They all are directors of Eastern Cables too.
Meanwhile, Eastern Cables failed to pay any dividend to its shareholders as it incurred losses during the 2019-20 financial year. The loss per share was Tk6.46.
The company also incurred a Tk3.23 crore loss in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
Eastern Cables was listed on the DSE in 1986. Its paid-up capital is Tk26.40 crore.
The government holds 51% shares of the company, while institutional and general investors own 17.73% and 13.50% respectively.
