Himadri's stock soars 95 times in four months

Infographic: TBS

The share price of Himadri Ltd — a listed company on the SME platform of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) — grew over 95 times of what it was four months ago.

According to DSE data, the company's shares closed at Tk3,376.10 each on Wednesday, which was only Tk35 on 26 April. Consequently, the firm's market capitalisation increased to Tk230 crore as of 30 August.

In reply to the Dhaka bourse's query about this unusual increase in share price, Himadri said that three of its directors sold some shares through the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) in April.

But after that, there was no other undisclosed information that might have affected the stock price, the company said in its reply.

Infograph: TBS

Earlier, Himadri's Company Secretary Jahirul Islam told The Business Standard, "We have nothing to do with the pricing of company's shares in the secondary market of stock exchanges."

The company's three directors — Nahar Ahmed, Eshraq Raihan Ahmed and Eshtiaque Ahmed — together sold 2.04 lakh shares of the company to comply with the securities regulator's directives.

In August last year, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) asked the company's sponsors and directors to offload more shares in the secondary market of the SME platform.

The company has only 7.5 lakh shares in total, of which, sponsors and directors held 65.72%, the government 1.48% and general investors held 32.80% as of 30 June.

Incorporated in 1974, Himadri Limited mainly provides cold storage facilities for agro-based products such as potatoes in the north of Bangladesh.

Currently, it has six potato cold storages in Rangpur, Bogura, Joypurhat, Thakurgaon, Gaibandha, and Dinajpur.

In September 2021, Himadri Limited was shifted from the over-the-counter (OTC) market to the SME platform. On the OTC market, the company's shares were last traded on 8 March 2014.