Walton emerges as the second largest listed company
In last one week, almost every day the company left behind at least one big company such as United Power, Square Pharmaceuticals, British American Tobacco Bangladesh to occupy a better spot in market valuation
Within a week of its debut at the local bourses, Walton Hi-Tech Industries has emerged as the second largest listed company of the country, next to Grameenphone only.
Disclosed business growth and extremely low float of shares made Walton such a hotcake in the bourses that almost no investor inquired about the price of the stock during its first six trading days.
Buyers had been bidding at the ceiling of the allowable limit of the day's price and very few investors preferred to cater them with supply.
At its debut on September 23, Walton ousted drug maker Renata from the fifth spot at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in terms of market capitalisation.
Meanwhile, the home-grown leading electronics and appliance manufacturer's market capitalisation increased to Tk22,935 crore on Wednesday, up from Tk11,450 crore on its first day at the bourses.
In last one week, almost every day the company left behind at least one big company such as United Power, Square Pharmaceuticals, British American Tobacco Bangladesh to occupy a better spot in market valuation.
However, with 6.62% of the current DSE market capitalisation, Walton Hi-Tech is now outperformed only by Grameenphone.
Grameenphone is a Tk44,599 crore company contributing 12.87% of the DSE market capitalisation.
As the market price of Walton shares is yet to show any sign of stop rising, analysts are curiously watching how the company catches up with Grameenphone or at least reduces the gap in company size.
Walton issued each of its primary shares to the public at Tk252 in its widely discussed initial public offering (IPO) this year.
In its debut, Walton Hi-Tech shares closed at Tk378 and the closing price was Tk757 on Wednesday.
While ringing the bell for Walton last week, DSE Managing Director Kazi Sanaul Hoq said Walton's listing with the capital market is a milestone.
He also expected that Walton would do better than the multinational companies listed on the country's capital market, and it is already evident that his expectations are being realised.
Walton collected Tk100 crore from the market to expand its business and repay some bank loans.
Many analysts believe that the company with net asset value per share of Tk243 and annual profit per share of Tk45.87 entered the market mainly for a price discovery.
Thanks to a supportive policy and its own hunger for growth, Walton has emerged as Bangladesh's refrigerator giant in its journey of two decades.
Now fast acquiring a technological edge in electronics, it is now moving exponentially towards becoming an international market player.