Stocks
Apex Foods or DSE: Who’s Concealing Information?
Allegations of insider trading have surfaced against Apex Foods Limited, a company listed on the stock market in the country. Recently, there has been a sudden surge in shareholding by the company’s executives, leading to speculation among market participants.
The company claims that the sudden increase in shareholding by more than 17 percent occurred due to the inclusion of the chairman’s wife in the board of directors. The matter has been brought to the attention of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) by the company. However, the DSE states that they have not received any information from the company regarding this issue. Investors are skeptical and uncertain about these developments, and the company’s shareholders are also expressing concerns.
Apex Foods has violated Section 1 of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2015 Law by failing to disclose sensitive information promptly. According to the directive, every listed issuer on the stock exchange must promptly notify the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and the relevant stock exchange (if listed on both exchanges) in writing, signed by the Chairman, CEO, or Company Secretary, along with fax and special message delivery, or courier service if available, within thirty minutes of making any material price-sensitive information available or coming into effect. The information must also be published immediately in two widely circulated daily newspapers (one in Bengali and the other in English) and an online publication to ensure maximum dissemination.
On the other hand, investors have also accused Apex Foods of violating privacy by holding a board meeting on April 20 without informing them. Although there is a provision to inform the investors about the decision of the management board by April 20, the investors still do not know about the matter. In addition, the company’s share price has increased by Tk 141.50 or 46.22% as a percentage since the company’s board meeting.
The owners and directors of Apex Foods have not made any announcement regarding the increase in their shareholding, despite their ownership share in the company increasing. The Dhaka Stock Exchange website did not show any announcement from the company regarding the purchase of shares last month. However, it was suddenly discovered that the owners and directors had acquired a significant number of shares, although there was no explanation given on the DSE website.
When asked about this, the company’s secretary Kamrul Islam stated to the news media Orthosongbad that the owners and directors did not purchase any shares. Therefore, there is no such information available on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. However, the wife of the company’s chairman, Jafar Ahmed, held 17.33% of the shares. She was previously a regular shareholder but was recently included in the board of directors. As a result, her shares are now combined with those of the owners and directors.
He further stated that the matter of appointing the chairman’s wife to the company’s board of directors was communicated to the DSE two or three days ago. Although the information was conveyed to the DSE regarding the inclusion of the chairman’s wife in the board of directors of Apex Foods, it has not been publicized through the trading system by the exchange.
The Managing Director of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, Mr. M. Saifur Rahman Majumdar, stated that the DSE was not informed by the company about the appointment of new directors in Apex Foods. Only the shareholder position is reported to the DSE at the end of each month, and the shareholder position has been updated accordingly. Apex Foods will be blamed as to why the appointment of the new director was not informed to DSE.
According to sources, Apex Foods had a shareholding of 36.06% among the company’s directors and executives until June 30, 2022, as stated on the DSE website. The same amount of shares was also held by the company’s directors and executives in the following year’s March. However, based on the recent information provided to the Dhaka Stock Exchange and the Apex Foods website, the company’s directors and executives currently hold 30 lakh 44 thousand 450 shares, which accounts for 53.39% of the total shares. Therefore, there has been an increase of 17.33% in the shareholding of the company’s directors and executives within a month.
In the Outgoing week, the European stock market displayed a losing performance.
The STOXX Europe 600 index, which is considered a leading benchmark for the European market and covers approximately 90 percent of the market capitalization across 17 countries, reported a slight gain of 0.54 points to close at 462.15.
The United Kingdom’s FTSE 100, one of the most widely followed indices in Europe, also showed significant drops, lost 20 points or finishing the session at 7,607.
In Germany, the DAX 30 index added 68 points to reach 16,051, while France’s CAC 40 also shed 49 points to stop at 7,270 at the end of the trading day.
Italy’s FTSE MIB, which covers the top 40 stocks traded on the Milan Stock Exchange, was the best performer of the day, gained 355 points to 27,068. Also, Spain’s IBEX 35, increased by 132 points, to close at 9,323.
Read More: European Stocks Displayed Varied Performance Over the Past Week
South Asian Bourse or Stock Markets saw gain performance last week.
Weekly Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSE, Dhaka Bourse has seen a hikes in turnover,Market Capitalization & Index. This information was disclosed in the weekly market review from the DSE
According to sources, (5 working days) the turnover of DSE gained by Tk 935 crore 77 lakh 48 thousand 732 (28 May – 1 June). At the same time, the market capitalization has gained by 1 housand 721 crore 30 lakh 42 thousand 833 taka.
The benchmark index ‘DSEX’ increased by 29.82 points or 0.47 percent, in the outgoing week. At the end of the week, the index stands at 6,355 points.
A review of South Asian markets shows that India’s Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) index BSE Sensex has gained 46 points during the week. At the end of the week, the index stood at 62,547 points. On the other hand, the Nifty-50 index of the country’s National Stock Exchange added by 35 points last week. At the end of the week, the index stood at 18,534 points.
Pakistan Stock Exchange Index ‘KSE 100’ hiked 354 points last week. After a week of gaining, the index settled at 41,356 points.
On the hand The Sri Lankan stock market dropped, the Colombo Stock Exchange index ‘ASPI’ increased by 70 points in a week. After a week the index settled at 8,767 points.
Bhutan’s stock market index ‘BSI’ rose by 30 points and the index stood at 1,332 points throughout the whole week. Nepal’s ‘NEPSE’ lost by 93 points last week, as the index stands at 1,866 points.
The initial public offering (IPO) application of Islamic Oxygen Limited, seeking to be listed on the stock market through the primary public offering, has been rejected by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC). The institution’s application was canceled by the regulatory authority due to the involvement of controversial figure Kazi Saifur, who had multiple previous convictions by the BSEC for various offenses. Moreover, Kazi Saifur had also been banned from the stock market for an extended period of time.
On Thursday, June 1, the Managing Director and spokesperson of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), Mohammad Rezaul Karim, confirmed the cancellation of the IPO application of Islam Oxygen Limited. It had been pending for a considerable period. However, the company has showcased its financial stability by demonstrating substantial assets. Nevertheless, the company failed to provide evidence of sales. In addition, there is an ongoing writ petition in the High Court regarding the value-added tax (VAT) exemption by the National Board of Revenue (NBR). Considering these factors, the IPO application of the company has been revoked.
Kazi Saifur, who had previously been involved in facilitating the listing of several weak companies in the stock market, was working as a pathway to bring Islam Oxygen into the share market. He particularly assisted these companies in preparing fabricated financial statements for listing.
Notably, Islam Oxygen Limited had sought to raise Tk 93 crore through the book-building method from the stock market. The company held its roadshow on October 25, 2021. Janata Capital and Investment Limited was responsible for managing the issue, while Sonali Investment Limited acted as the registrar to the issue. However, indirectly, the primary responsibility of the issue management was carried out by the controversial Shahjalal Equity Management. This same institution had already listed several weak companies in the stock market by providing fabricated financial statements. Furthermore, Kazi Saifur Rahman, a controversial figure in the stock market, is also associated with the ownership of Shahjalal Equity Management.
