Peninsula Ctg, Golden Harvest shares soar on expansion news

Shares of Peninsula Chittagong and Golden Harvest rose yesterday, riding on good news from both companies.

The hotel's stock grew 5 per cent to Tk 22.60 after the company announced that its board accepted a 30-year lease agreement with the Chittagong Port Authority for an additional 0.3 acres of land.

The land is adjacent to the Chittagong Airport and Peninsula's second five-star hotel project, the company said in a security filing on the website of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

"Our second hotel in Chattogram is under construction, and we need the extra land for its beautification," said Mohammed Nurul Azim, company secretary of Peninsula.

The hotel authorities raised Tk 116 crore from the stock market to construct the new five-star hotel.The company's profits rose to Tk 4.98 crore in the first half of 2020-21, up from Tk 3.56 crore in the same period the previous year.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the profits went up riding on the increased demand for food from the port city's middle-class.Its overhead costs declined, while its directors stopped receiving remuneration from July last year in view of the current crisis.

Stocks of Golden Harvest were up 1.80 per cent to Tk 17 after the board decided to invest in the fast-rising e-commerce industry as it looks to expand into the food, grocery and medicine delivery markets as well as hotel bookings and ticketing.

Golden Harvest will own 45 per cent of an e-commerce venture, equivalent to around Tk 5 crore. The DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, dropped 12.99 points, or 0.23 per cent, to close at 5,591 yesterday.

Turnover, an important indicator of the stock market, rose 44 per cent to Tk 1,043 crore. On the DSE, 80 stocks rose, 157 fell, and 121 remained unchanged.