LankaBangla to raise Tk 159cr

LankaBangla Finance has received regulatory approval to raise Tk 159.12 crore by issuing right shares.

The firm will issue 159,125,470 ordinary shares of Tk 10 each.

The news of LankaBangla Finance raising the fund was disclosed on the website of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) yesterday, which helped the non-banking financial institution top the turnover list.

The price of the company's each share gained Tk 0.50 or 0.79 percent to close at Tk 63.80 with the turnover of Tk 31 crore.

In August, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) rejected the rights offer of LankaBangla due to non compliance with the securities rule.

The share holding of a director of the company was below 2 percent which goes against the securities law, said a senior executive of the BSEC. Later, the director resigned from the board, he said.

The stockmarket regulator approved the right share proposal as the company submitted review petition after complying with the regulatory requirements, said Khwaja Shahriar, managing director of LankaBangla Finance.

LankaBangla gained healthy earnings per share in the third quarter of 2017 compared to the same period of the previous year.

The earnings per share increased to Tk 1.31 in July-September period of this year from Tk 0.16 in the same period last year, according to DSE data.

The earnings in the nine months of 2017 were Tk 3.31 per share, up from Tk 1.05 in the same period last year.

The good business of two subsidiaries— LankaBangla Securities and LankaBangla Investment—helped LankaBangla made hefty earnings, said Shahriar.

The buyout transaction in the stockmarket this year helped the company make profits in 2017, although it counted losses last year, he said.

The parent company LankaBangla Finance also made handsome business thanks to the rising credit demand, he added.  

The company, which got listed on the stockmarket in 2006, is engaged in lease financing, term financing, factoring, auto loan, SME loan, deposit scheme, home loan and stock broking.

Another listed company Social Islami Bank saw marginal growth in earnings for the third quarter of this year.

The earnings per share were Tk 0.60 in the July-September quarter, slightly up from Tk 0.31 in the same period last year.

However, the earnings for nine months from January to September this year declined slightly to Tk 1 per share as against Tk 1.04 in the same period last year.

The bank experienced a sudden reshuffle in its management at the board meeting held on Monday after a Chittagong-based business group bought around 50 percent share of the financial institution.

The change in the management drew huge attention in the market and put negative impact on its share price as well.

Each share price of the bank lost Tk 1.70 or 5.67 percent before closing at Tk 28.30 and got the worst performing share's tag yesterday.

Daily Market: 

Dhaka stocks witnessed marginal gains yesterday because of active participation of investors.

The benchmark index—DSEX— increased 0.38 percent or 23.34 points to 6,019.59. The daily turnover also increased by 5.46 percent to Tk 537.46 crore yesterday from the previous session.

The market started the session on a positive note and continued the upward trend throughout the session, according to the daily market analysis of UCB Capital Management. Most of the heavy weight equities reported moderate gains, according to the analysis.

Among the major sectors, power posted a gain of 1.26 percent while banks shed by 0.45 percent. Banking sector led the market yesterday by contributing 25.24 percent of the day's total turnover.