GP, Robi, BAT to have floor until record date

Floor price of the largest listed company Grameenphone will be withdrawn on March 3, 19 months after the imposition of the price restriction.
The floor price of another two market leaders -- British American Tobacco Company Bangladesh (BATBC) and Robi Axiata -- will also remain effective until their forthcoming record dates, according to a directive issued by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on Tuesday.
Grameenphone has announced that its record date is February 29, while recommending a 125 per cent annual cash dividend for 2023.
BATBC and Robi have not yet declared dates of their board meetings to discuss, among others, financial statements for the calendar year of 2023.
Their record dates will be informed after board meetings.
The three multinational companies have significant shares in the broad index of the stock exchanges because of their large market value.
Grameenphone has the highest share of 5 per cent in market capitalisation of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) while BATBC and Robi have 3.63 per cent and 2 per cent of the exchange.
Mohammad Rezaul Karim, a BSEC executive director and spokesperson, said the regulator had been withdrawing floor price in phases based on its assessment on how to avoid any possible negative impact on the market.
The market seems to have absorbed the shock of the floor price removal in the first two phases.
"Floor price of three multinational companies will remain effective till record dates so that investors get time and be well aware in advance," Mr. Karim said.
Many investors are attracted by a company's dividends to take fresh positions before the record date.
In its directive issued on Tuesday, the securities regulator also said the floor price of Beximco Limited, BSRM Limited, Islami Bank, Khulna Power, Meghna Petroleum, and Shahjibazar Power Company will remain in place until a further order.
The BSEC spokesperson said the floor would be removed from these companies, observing the upcoming market situation.
Meanwhile, floor was withdrawn from another three companies -- Anwar Galvanising, Orion Pharma, and Renata on Tuesday.
The floor price was reinforced for the second time on July 28, 2022.
The securities regulator lifted the floor for all but 35 stocks on January 18 this year.
The decision came into effect in the following session. On the day, the DSE broad index DSEX shed 214 points within the first seven minutes.
At the end of the session, index recovered the initial loss and closed with a loss of 96 points.
After losing more 161 points in the next five sessions, the market started to turn around, riding on investors' increased participation, and the index added 267 points in seven sessions in a row.
In the second phase, the regulator lifted the floor price of 23 companies out of the 35 on January 22, encouraged by the rising trend of the market.

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