BSEC slaps hefty conditional fines on Fortune Shoes chairman, top officials over unpaid dues, dividends
This marks the very first enforcement action taken by the BSEC under the newly appointed commission, which assumed office earlier this month.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has issued a stern enforcement order targeting the top management and board members of Fortune Shoes Limited.
The capital market regulator has slapped conditional financial penalties totalling Tk7.20 crore on eight individuals, including the company's chairman, directors, and top executives, for failing to pay long-overdue stock exchange listing fees and undistributed dividends.
This marks the very first enforcement action taken by the BSEC under the newly appointed commission, which assumed office earlier this month.
According to the regulatory directive issued on 17 June, the company has been handed a strict 30-day ultimatum to clear its outstanding listing fees to the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and distribute all remaining unpaid dividends to its shareholders. If the company fails to comply within this designated 30-day window, the financial penalties will immediately be enforced as personal liabilities against the named individuals.
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Under the conditional penalty structure, the heaviest fine has been levied against the company's Chairman, Mizanur Rahman, who faces a personal penalty of Tk5 crore. Furthermore, Managing Director Roksana Rahman, Director Amanur Rahman, Director Robiul Islam, and Former Director Khosrul Islam have each been penalised Tk50 lakh.
The regulator has also fined Former Chief Financial Officer Jamil Ahmed Chowdhury Tk10 lakh, while Former Company Secretary Riaz Uddin Bhuiya and current Company Secretary Nazmul Hossain face fines of Tk5 lakh each.
The BSEC has explicitly specified that if the penalised individuals fail to deposit these amounts via bank draft or pay-order within the stipulated period, they will face an additional daily fine of Tk10,000 for every day the default continues.
The commission also clarified that the payment of these personal fines will not exempt Fortune Shoes Limited from its core institutional obligations to settle the original listing fees and outstanding dividends. The aggressive enforcement action stems from a physical inspection conducted by a DSE team back in October 2023 following regulatory red flags. The subsequent investigation revealed that Fortune Shoes had completely failed to pay its annual listing fees to the DSE for more than three years, with total dues accumulating to Tk18.29 lakh as of 31 July 2023. This prolonged default directly triggered the criteria for the de-listing of securities under current DSE regulations.
Additionally, the company was found in violation of explicit BSEC directives regarding withheld dividends; having declared a 10% cash and 5% stock dividend for the financial year ended 30 June 2022, the company failed to disburse the full amount, leaving Tk3.98 crore out of the total Tk16.25 crore declared dividend entirely undistributed by the time of the regulatory hearings.
During the show-cause hearings held in April 2026, the management of Fortune Shoes admitted to the non-compliance and offered their apologies, attributing the operational lapses to a severe financial crisis.
The company cited severe geopolitical and economic strain, explaining that one of its major buyers, an Indian brand named Red Tape Limited, faced severe shipment disruptions over the last year and a half due to critical bilateral business relations.
While Fortune Shoes stated that it has recently resumed shipments and paid a partial token amount of Tk5 lakh toward the outstanding DSE listing fees, the regulator ultimately deemed the prolonged delays an intentional violation of market discipline, necessitating these historic financial penalties to protect general investor interests.
Fortune Shoe listed on the Dhaka bourse in 2016. Currently, it traded under Z category due to non-disbursement of the declared dividend in the stipulated time.
On Thursday, its share jumped by 6.92% to reach Tk17, highest this year.
In FY22, the company posted a net profit of Tk37.41 core, which was gradually reduced in the following years. In FY25, the company generated only Tk1.79 crore profit.
The financial crisis deepened in FY26 as the company incurred loss in the first nine months of FY26. During the July-March period of FY26, it posted a loss per share of Tk0.87.
During the period, its net asset value per share dropped by 6% to Tk13.79.
According to the shareholding report for May, out of its total shares, sponsors and directors hold 30.93% shares, institutional investors have 16.64% and the remaining 52.43% shares are held by the public.
