Sonali Paper gets BSEC nod to issue rights shares
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on Wednesday allowed Sonali Paper and Board Mills – a concern of the Younus Group of Industries – to issue rights shares at a ratio of 1R:2 (1 right share against 2 existing shares held) at Tk10 per share.
The company will issue 1.1 crore ordinary shares at Tk10.1 crore and use this fund to purchase machinery.
The firm will not be able to raise its paid-up capital through stock dividends for the next five years.
The BSEC relaxed a rule relating to issuing the right shares of the company to comply with the regulatory obligation to maintain a minimum paid-up capital of Tk30 crore.
As per the guidelines, a company cannot issue the right shares within three years of listing on the main board of the stock exchanges and Sonali Paper got relisted on the bourses only one year ago.
Currently, the company's paid-up capital is Tk21.96 crore.
Earlier, the regulator appointed SH Khan & Co Chartered Accountants as a special auditor for the company to look into its assets that were revalued in 2016.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) transferred the company to the over-the-counter (OTC) market in October 2009 due to continued poor performance.
In July 2020, the company relisted on the main board of the stock exchanges taking exemption from the listing regulations.
The share price of the company witnessed an unusual hike of around 337% over the last ten months. The company has focused on the capital market instead of the manufacturing business.
In the July-December period of 2021, its operating income increased by 47% compared to the same period of the previous year.
The company has invested Tk45.37 crore in the capital market but its inventories are worth only Tk31.76 crore.
A big portion of the revenue has been generated through capital market investment.
Sonali Paper & Board Mills was incorporated in 1977 and got listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 1985 and on the Chittagong Stock Exchange in 1996.
The principal activities of the company are manufacturing and marketing of media, liner, simplex, duplex paperboard, and quality papers such as newsprint.
