Shaw Wallace to sell 8 lakh shares of National Housing

Shaw Wallace Bangladesh Ltd, a corporate sponsor of National Housing Finance and Investments, has announced its plan to sell eight lakh shares out of its total holding of 25.88 lakh shares in the company.

In a disclosure today (14 September), the company said the sale will be executed at prevailing market prices in the public market through the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) within the next 30 working days.

Following the announcement, National Housing's share price dropped by 4.26% to close at Tk27 on the day at the Dhaka bourse.

This marks another step in the sponsor's gradual offloading of its stake over the years. On 24 May 2022, Shaw Wallace Bangladesh reported the sale of seven lakh shares, while in May 2021, it sold a total of 20 lakh shares in two separate transactions.

Earlier in 2013, the company had also disposed of seven lakh shares of National Housing. The sponsor originally acquired its stake in National Housing in 1998 as part of its shareholder role.

Founded in 1886 by Davis Thomas Shaw and Charles William Wallace, Shaw Wallace has a long corporate history. After the 1947 partition, British shareholdings were taken over by local businessmen, creating Shaw Wallace India and Shaw Wallace Pakistan.

Following Bangladesh's independence, the company's local assets were acquired from the government by a group of businessmen led by Reazur Rahman, founder-partner of Rahman Huq, through an auction process, giving birth to Shaw Wallace Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, National Housing has revised its dividend declaration for 2024, opting to distribute a 10% stock dividend instead of the earlier proposed 10% cash dividend.

The non-banking private sector lender has reported a significant earnings decline, with earnings per share (EPS) dropping by 97% year-on-year to Tk2.23 in 2024. In the first half of this year, the company's EPS also fell by 25% to Tk0.45 compared to the same period last year, reflecting continuing challenges in profitability.