Company non-existent, yet stocks fetching good money

While a number of blue chip stocks are trading at less than Tk 60 at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), shares of a company recently found to be non-existent were trading at Tk 195.6 yesterday.

A DSE team went to inspect Northern Jute Manufacturing Company Limited's factory on September 4 as a part of an initiative to identify whether companies that have been performing poorly over the years have any potential.

The team found the factory premises closed, said the DSE in a website disclosure yesterday.

The next day, when the team visited the company's registered head office in Dhaka, it was found to be occupied by another company, OMC Ltd, said the country's premier bourse.

"We could not communicate with any officials of the company," a top DSE official told The Daily Star preferring anonymity.

Although the company is not in operation, its share price is rising based on rumours. As the number of shares of the company is low, a group of people are taking advantage of it by spreading rumours about it, he added.

Listed in 1994, the z category company has 21 lakh shares, 15.09 percent of which are held by sponsors and directors and 84.91 percent by general investors.

The company last provided a 5 percent cash dividend in 2020 and informed the DSE that it had a paid-up capital of Tk 2.1 crore.