BSEC for probing Emerald Oil shares' 'suspicious' jumps

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has advised the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) to investigate the "unusual and suspicious" jumps in Emerald Oil Industries shares.

"It appears that the share price of the listed company has changed from Tk30.8 to Tk52.30 (increased by 69.81%) from 2 April to 26 April 2023, which seems unusual and suspicious," the market regulator stated in a letter to the DSE last month.

The country's premier bourse has been asked to submit the probe report to the commission within the 15 working days. 

However, according to DSE data, the price jumped almost 90% to Tk65.90 per share on 3 May from Tk34.7 on 11 April.

BSEC Spokesman Mohammad Rezaul Karim told The Business Standard, "If any irregularities are found in the DSE report, the commission will take necessary actions."

Due to scams by its old owners, Emerald Oil Industries, the Spondon-branded oil producer, was non-operational from 2017 to January 2022.

It has resumed production but failed to reach full capacity due to a gas shortage.

So, it is now producing de-oiled rice bran (DORB), used for producing animal feeds, and Spondon brand oil on a small scale.

Minori Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Japanese farming company Minori Co Limited, took over the company in 2021 and resumed production, injecting Tk31 crore in fresh funds.

The company has yet to disclose its last three years' financials since the fiscal 2019-20 and nine months of the current fiscal year.

So, investors are in the dark about the financials of Emerald Oil Industries. Despite the situation, surprisingly, its share price is increasing day after day.

Emerald Oil Industries recently got the stock market regulator's nod to issue 3.15 crore fresh shares against investment by its new owner as a share money deposit.