Imam Button’s share price soars as fugitive MD declares of buying shares
It is classified as a “Z” category company at the DSE as it has failed to pay dividends to its shareholders since 2011
Mohammad Ali, managing director of Imam Button Industries Limited, has declared that he will buy 65,000 shares of the company through the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) within the next 30 days.
After the news was revealed in the DSE website, Imam Button's share price rose by 7.45% to Tk27.40 per share on Tuesday. At the end of the DSE trading session, its share's closing price was Tk26.50 per share.
The company has not been in operation since March this year. It has also been posting losses since 2011. It is classified as a "Z" category company at the DSE as it failed to pay dividends to its shareholders since that year.
Mohammad Ali is also the owner of Chattogram based Imam Group. In January this year, he fled to the United Arab Emirates after arrest warrants were issued against him in 55 cases filed by the banks and financial institutions concerned for defaulting on loans of Tk800 crore.
However, on 2 December this year, the stock market regulator Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has requested the authorities concerned to bar Mohammad Ali from leaving the country till further notice regarding pending legal actions over financial irregularities.
Mohammad Ali was once a member of the board of directors of the National Credit and Commerce Bank (NCC). Using this position, he managed to get loans from various banks. He was later dropped from the NCC board after his share in the bank fell below 2% and he defaulted on the loans taken out from different banks.
Imam Button was incorporated in 1994 and was listed on both stock exchanges in 1996. The company provides buttons for the apparel sector. Its factory is in the Fauzdarhat area of Chattogram city.
Its paid-up capital is Tk7.70 crore. Out of its total shares, the sponsors and directors hold 29.24%, institutional investors 9.01% and general investors own 61.75% shares.
The BSEC recently cancelled the directorship of Md Lokman Chowdhury of Imam Button for not complying with the minimum 2% shareholding condition.
Meanwhile, the company recently released its financial report for the January-March quarter of the fiscal year 2019-20. The company reported a loss per share of Tk0.23 in this quarter.
At the end of three quarters of the last fiscal, the total loss per share of the company stood at Tk0.51.
