BSEC recasts board to make Imam Button functional

The stock market regulator has recast the board of Imam Button Industries Ltd to make the backward linkage company of the garment industry functional.

As part of the recast, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) last week appointed Professor Mohammad Sogir Hossain Khandoker, Md Mahamud Hosain, and Mohammed Masum Iqbal as independent directors of the company.

At the same time, the regulator had asked the newly-appointed independent directors to nominate two shareholder directors from investors owning a minimum of 2% of the company.

In complying with the order, the company on Saturday reconstituted the board of directors and elected Professor Mohammad Sogir Hossain Khandoker as chairman and ASM Hasib Hasan as its managing director.

As punitive measures for various reasons, including their failure to run the company, the commission has barred the previous sponsor directors of Imam Button from representing or being elected directors on the board of any listed company in the days to come, according to officials at the BSEC.

The share price of Imam Button jumped five times in just six months, from February to July 2022, based on a rumour about resuming production at its factory, which has been closed since April 2020.

Imam Button, which was incorporated in 1994, got listed on local bourses in 1996. Its factory is located in the Fauzdarhat area of Chattogram city.

Its paid-up capital is Tk7.70 crore. The sponsors and directors hold 30.08%, institutional investors 9.01%, and general investors 60.91% of the company's shares.

Imam Button has been posting losses since 2011. It is classified as a "Z" category company at the DSE as it has failed to pay dividends to its shareholders since that year.

It has also not published any financial statements since 31 March 2020.

The last trading share of the company was Tk95 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday.