HeidelbergCement stocks soar 38% in six days

The share price of HeidelbergCement Bangladesh – which incurred massive losses in the first nine months of 2020 – soared by 38% to Tk233.6, from Tk168.6 each, in the last six days.

In the January-September period, the German cement maker's sales dropped by 10% amid the Covid-19 pandemic, while its net profit stood negative, from profit in the same time of the previous year.

The share price unusually rose from 11-20 April and for this recent price hike, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) sent a query to the company.

In response, HeidelbergCement said there was no price sensitive information behind the unusual price hike.

The company said its board of directors will meet on 28 April to consider, among other matters, audited financial statements for 2020.

Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Limited is a sister concern of HeidelbergCement Group from Germany.

The company meets 13% of the country's cement demand from its two plants located in Dhaka and Chattogram.

HeidelbergCement had earlier acquired two companies named Emirates Cement and Emirates Power at a cost of Tk182.58 crore, from UltraTech Cement Middle East Investments Ltd.

On 7 February, the company received a High Court direction for amalgamation, and to get approval of the scheme for the merger, it will hold an extraordinary general meeting on 2 May.

According to the financial statements, in the first nine months of last year, its sales stood at Tk810.63 crore, which was Tk899.93 crore in the same period the previous year.

In this time, the company has incurred a loss of Tk17.07 crore while loss per share stood at Tk3.02.

During the same time frame the previous year, its net profit was 94.09 lakh and earnings per share was Tk0.17.

But finally, the company fell into losses in 2019 and did not pay any dividends to its shareholders.

HeidelbergCement was listed on the stock market in 1989 and is now placed in the `A' category.

Till February 2021, of a total of 56,503,590 shares, sponsors and directors held 60.67% shares, institutional investors 26.24%, foreign investors 0.51%, and the general public, 12.58%.