Sunlife Insurance Co Limited board meeting will be held on 27th June, 2013 at 4.00 pm to consider the financial report for the year ended 31st December 2012. The company may declare dividend for the shareholders for 2012. 

Sunlife Insurance Co Limited was listed to capital market in this year. The company had collected Tk.12.00 crore by issuing 1.20 crore general shares.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday barred the selling of shares by sponsors and directors of RN Spinning Mills in the wake of alleged anomalies in the company's rights offer. The directive will be effective from today (Thursday) and until further order, no sponsors and directors will be able to sell their shares, according to a SEC statement.    

In the matter of rights offer the SEC had sought some documents which later were proved fake. Therefore, SEC will also file criminal cases against the company leaders. The regulator’s move comes in response to the request by the Dhaka Stock Exchange to impose restrictions on share transaction of sponsors and directors of the company.

A DSE probe panel found massive irregularities in the rights issue process of RN Spinning. A rights issue is an issue of additional share by a listed company to raise capital from existing shareholders. With the issued rights, the existing shareholders have the privilege to buy a specified number of new shares from the firm at a particular price within a specified time. A rights issue is in contrast is an initial public offering, where shares are issued to the general public through market exchanges. RN Spinning undertook a rights issue this year which was closed on March 13, but it did not credit the rights shares to the beneficiary owners' accounts, as per SEC rules, within the 21 workdays of expiry of the subscription period.

A large portion of the rights issue had remained unsubscribed, the majority of which were from sponsors and directors of RN Spinning and underwriters of the issue, who had assured of subscription but did not follow accordingly. 

In January, the SEC approved RN Spinning Mills' rights offer to issue 13.91 crore ordinary shares of Tk 20 each totalling Tk 278.28 crore. The company had offered one rights share for each existing share and took Tk 10 as a premium for each share in addition of Tk 10 face value.
The company had eventually managed to sell rights shares worth Tk 180 crore.

The SEC in June launched a probe into the delay in crediting the rights shares by the company, and the matter is now in the enforcement department of the regulator for the next course of action.

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Information Services Limited has placed to 'B' category from existing 'A' category. The company was declared 5% stock dividend for 2012.

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One Bank Limited has credited the bonus shares, declared for the year ended 2012, to the respective shareholders BO account on June 18, 2013. The company was declared 15% stock and 5% cash dividend for 2012.

Uttara Bank Limited also credited the bonus shares declared for the year ended 2012, to the respective shareholders BO account on June 20, 2013. The company was declared 10% stock and 15% cash (Tk.1.50 for each share) dividend for 2012.

On the other-hand, National Housing Finance and Investment Limited has credited the bonus shares of 2012 to the respective shareholders BO account on June 20, 2013.

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JMI Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd. has published the 1st quarter report of the company. The EPS for the 1st quarter of the company is Tk.0.08, which was Tk.0.21 for the same period of the last year.

The company also reported that the audited EPS for the year of 2012 was Tk.1.12, which was Tk.1.05 for 2011.

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The DSE will elect its new President, Senior Vice-President, and Vice-President on Saturday

The Dhaka Stock Exchange, the country's premier bourse, will elect four new Directors on Monday.

Voting started at 10am Monday and will end at 8pm, DSE Deputy General Manager Shafiqur Rahman said.

He said 240 members will elect four candidates out of eight vying for a place on the Board of Directors.

Every year, four new directors are elected to the 12-strong Board. All directors stay on the Board for three years.

After the four new directors are elected on Monday, the 12 directors will elect the DSE's new President, Senior Vice-President, and Vice-President from among them in their Saturday's annual general council elections.

Incumbent President Rakibur Rahman, directors Ahmed Iqbal Hasan, Khwaja Ghulam Rasul, and Sharif Ataur Rahman have completed their terms on the DSE's board.

Dhaka University teacher and also a University Grants Commission Member Prof MA Hashem is acting as the Chief Election Commissioner.

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 The trading category of two companies has changed.

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation has placed to 'A' category from existing 'Z' category. The company has approved 10% cash dividend for the year 2012. Last year the company were placed to 'Z' category as the company did not recommended any dividend.

On the other-hand, Kay & Kue has placed to 'Z' category from existing 'B' category as the company did not recommended any dividend for the year 2012.

Both the company will be traded under new category from 13th June 2013.

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Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited will start International Internet Gateway (IIG) from 1st July 2013. The board of directors has approved it in a meeting.

Source: DSE

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BSEC has approved the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Bangladesh Building System Limited. The company will collect Tk.140.00 million by selling 14 million general share of Tk.10.00 at face value.

Collected money will be used for repayment of Bank Loan and IPO expenses.

Based on the last financial statement of 30 June, 2012 the NAV of the company is Tk.13.07 an Earning Per Share (EPS) is Tk.2.58.

Janata Capital and Investment Limited is the Issue Manager of Bangladesh Building System Limited.

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BSEC has decided to fine Tk.5.00 (five) lac to Shymol Equity Management Ltd. for breaking the rules and regulations of securities laws. Commission in its 482th meeting has taken the decision.

The notable complains against Shymol Equity are:

1. Receive more than Tk.5.00 lac from the customers at a time.
2. Giving Margin facility to customers without having Margin Agreement.
3. Providing margin loan facility to Managing Director & Directors.
4. Depositing customers' money to MD's personal account and not showing them to company's financial statement, etc.

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The trade of ICB AMCL Sonali Bank Limited 1st Mutual Fund will commence at DSE from Wednesday, 12 June, 2012. It will trade under "A" Category. 

The trading code for the fund will be "ICBSONALI1" and Company Code for DSE is 12193.

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Stakeholders in the capital market think the proposed 2013-14 budget will be sooth market mood.

They believe the incentives proposed in the budget will help to stabilize it. The government has proposed a cluster of incentives in a bid to reduce volatility and bring back investors.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith placed the Awami League-led Grand Alliance government’s last budget in Parliament on Thursday with an outlay of Tk 2.22 trillion. He proposed tax rebate on investment for individuals and on investment in private mutual funds, and withdrawal of tax on share premium.

In an instant reaction to the proposals, Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) President Md Rakibur Rahman said: “The government’s positive attitude towards the capital market has been reflected in the various incentives and facilities in the proposed budget.”

“We believe the budget proposals will help stabilise the market,” added the chief of the country’s prime bourse.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Al Maruf Khan also welcomed the proposals meant for the share market.“The proposed budget is positive. (It’s) especially positive for small and individual investors.”

Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA) President Mohammad A Hafiz also finds the budget positive for the market though not all of their demands have been accommodated.

He told bdnews24.com: “The budget has been positive for the capital market. But we had sought a lump sum allocation of Tk 50 billion in the budget. (We’re) urging (the government) again to consider it.”

In the budget speech, the finance minister said investment by firms or individuals will be allowed 15 percent tax rebate on 30 percent of income.

He also proposed an increase in the tax rebate ceiling in case of individual investors to 30 percent from existing 20 percent. In the proposed budget, the ceiling for tax rebate on investment for the individual taxpayers in certain cases has been raised to Tk 15 million from Tk 10 million.

Existing 3 percent tax at source on the premium over face value of share of a company has been withdrawn.

The tax at source of sale of bonds has also been withdrawn and 15 percent tax rebate given on the investment in private mutual funds, while the threshold for tax-exempt dividend income has been raised to Tk 10,000 from Tk 5,000.

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Md. Imamul Kabir Shanto, Chairman, Sunderban Courier Services (Pvt.)
 Ltd., Dr. Shahadat Khan, CEO, Progoti Systems Ltd and Dr. Muhammad 
Asaduzzaman, Managing Director (cc) of Bangladesh Commerce Bank 
Limited signed the agreement Saturday. Under the deal, Bangladesh
 Commerce Bank is going to launch its another financial service 
branding 'S-Cash' Mobile Banking Services.

Bangladesh Commerce Bank is going to launch its another financial service branding 'S-Cash' Mobile Banking Services under the umbrella of BCB Mobile Banking range and to this effect inked an agreement with M/s. Sunderban Courier Services (Pvt.) Limited and M/s. Progoti Systems Limited in a simple ceremony in the city Saturday.

Md. Imamul Kabir Shanto, Chairman, Sunderban Courier Services (Pvt.) Ltd., Dr. Shahadat Khan, CEO, Progoti Systems Ltd and Dr. Muhammad Asaduzzaman, Managing Director (cc) of Bangladesh Commerce Bank Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations. M/s. Sunderban Courier Services (Pvt.) Ltd. will provide countrywide agent networks and M/s. Progoti Systems Ltd. will provide necessary technology solution & support to the bank for S-Cash mobile banking services. 

'S-Cash' Mobile Banking service is designed to deliver financial services through country wide agent networks of M/s. Sunderban Courier Services (Pvt.) Ltd. to unbanked population residing at the remotest locations of the country where the bank has no branches. The objective of this service is "Financial Inclusion" i.e. delivering financial services at an affordable cost to sections of underprivileged and low income segments of the society. Using 'S-Cash', a customer can open new 'S-Cash' Mobile account with the Bank, deposit money or withdraw cash, transfer to other customers through any authorized agent's locations of Sunderban Courier Services besides BCB branches. A customer shall also be able to send money to another customer, receive salary or pay utility bills/purchases from his account using his registered phone without visiting any bank branch or agent locations round the clock.

The ceremony was attended by Mr. Md. Yousuf Ali Hawlader, Chairman, Bangladesh Commerce Bank Limited; Mr. Shaikh Tanvir Ahmed (Rony), Managing Director, Sunderban Courier Services (Pvt.) Ltd along with Top Executives of the respective organization.

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The 14th Annual General Meeting of Trust Bank Limited was held at Army Golf Club, Dhaka Cantonment in the city Thursday. Maj Gen Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, rcds, afwc, psc, Vice Chairman of the Bank presided over the meeting. 

The meeting approved 10 per cent stock dividend for the shareholders for the year 2012.

The Directors Report and Audited Financial Statements of the Company for the year ended on 31 December 2012 were unanimously approved. The meeting also approved the appointment of Ms. Begum Rokeya Din and Mr. Helal Uddin Ahmed as Independent Director. M/S ACNABIN, Chartered Accountant was re-appointed as external auditor upto next Annual General Meeting.

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Tanjil Chowdhury, Imran Khan

The Board of Directors of Prime Bank Limited in a recent meeting unanimously elected Mr. Tanjil Chowdhury as the Chairman and Mr. Imran Khan as the Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bank effective from 1st June, 2013.

Mr. Tanjil Chowdhury, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Prime Bank Limited is the Managing Director of East Coast Group of Companies, a diversified conglomerate with primary focus on Oil & Energy. 

Prior to assuming the Office of Chairman, he was the Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee.

Mr. Imran Khan, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of Prime Bank Limited is one of the Directors of Pedrollo nk Limited, the Bangladeshi subsidiary of Pedrollo, the leading Italian brand water pumps. Mr. Khan is a promising business personality of the country. He also holds Directorship of PNL Holdings Limited, PNL Water Management Limited, PolyexPrint Ltd, Polyexlaminate Ltd, Polytape Limited, Halda Valley Tea Co. Ltd. and Hill Plantation Limited.

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The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Saturday said scrapping the opportunity of money whitening provision in the stocks will not affect the capital market.

The government proposed to scrap the provision for amnesty for undisclosed money invested in stocks in the next fiscal year though the market witnessed a lot of hypes over the issue in the last few days.

CSE President Al Maruf Khan addressing a post-budget press
 conference held at the Dhaka office of the port city bourse Saturday.

"I think scrapping the money whitening provision through investment in the stock market will not affect the market as it did not get good responses in the few years," CSE President Al Maruf Khan said at a post-budget press conference held at the Dhaka office of the port city bourse.

Mr Khan said the sluggishness in the stock business was seen over the last two years despite the presence of money whitening opportunity. "So, we believe it will not put negative impact in the stock market," Mr Khan told reporters in a query.

He praised the government for a number of proposed benefits, including tax removal on share premium and tax rebate on private sector mutual fund investments.

"The individual tax payer investors will be benefited as the government increased tax-free income from the capital market, said Mr Khan"

"Investors will also be encouraged to purchase the units of private mutual funds amid a level playing field created by the government," he said.

Though the individual tax payer investors will be benefited in line with the capital market aspect, the overall budget is as usual, he said.

The bourse, however, requested the government to increase the level of tax-free dividend income up to Tk 50,000. The government has raised the tax exempted dividend income threshold up to Tk 10,000, from existing Tk 5000.

However, he said that there is no encouraging incentive for the institutional investors. "The budget would be more suggestive and reformative to make the capital market the main source of raising capital," said Mr Khan.

Mr Khan urged the government to withdraw the proposed extra 5.0 per cent tax on listed Mobile Phone Company and Tobacco Company as the bourse think that it would decrease the power of giving divined.

About the government's high bank borrowing target in the next fiscal year, he said, it might put a negative impact on the capital market.

To meet the budget deficit, some Tk 259.93 billion (2.2 per cent of GDP) would be lent from the banking system, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said in his budget speech on Thursday.

"If the government borrows huge amount of money from the internal sources, the private sector investment will suffer, liquidity shortage would intensify and interest rate would be high which will affect the capital market,' he explained.

In addition to the incentives to the capital market, a number of reform measures are reiterated in the budget, for example financial reporting act, company act, bank company act, insurance act, tax act 1984, clearing company act etc, he said. 

"We hope that these reforms would take place within the present government tenure," he said.

In its written statement, the CSE president requested the government to reconsider some issues including re-fix tax at source for the members of the stock exchange at 0.015 per cent, down from existing 0.05 per cent, as commission for brokerage services reduced significantly.

"We hope the government will take some monetary measures like stimulus package, reduce the bank interest rate, and increase the capital market exposure limit in the next monetary policy," he said.

He also urged the government to increase the tax net, to decrease the tax burden on the exiting ones.

Mr Khan said, though there is an upward trend in the foreign direct investments (FDI), portfolio investments is not at satisfactory level. "We want a specific guideline about the portfolio investments," he said. 

The port city bourse also urged the government to involve the stock market with big projects under the public-private partnership (PPP).

He said though the government pointed out the about the Bangladesh Fund in its budget proposal, there is no specific indication about the fund implementation.

Besides, there is no specific guideline on the recently formed Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission's 'Capital Market Master Plan' in the budget proposal, he said.

The CSE noted that there was no specific policy about the state owned enterprises to be listed in the stock exchanges and there is no indication on derivatives market to develop the stock market in the proposed budget. "We want specific policy and guidelines about the issues," he added.

The CSE also wants a seven-year tax exemption for making the share holders' broad-base after demutualization. 

CSE Senior Vice President M K M Mohiuddin, director Md Mofizuddin and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Syed Sajid Husain were, present among others at the press conference.

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The government has proposed a number of new benefits, including a tax rebate on investment in private mutual funds and tax deduction at source on share premium to help revamp the country's stock markets.

"The present government is firmly committed to maintain the stability of the capital market along with its continual expansion and solidification," said Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday in his budget speech.

As per the proposed budget announced for the fiscal year (FY) 2013-14, a company will enjoy a tax exemption on its share premium fixed over face during the flotation of shares through the initial public offering (IPO).

Presently, a company has to pay three per cent tax on the share premium fixed by the securities regulator while offloading the shares into the stock market.

"This step will, I believe, motivate the new companies to be enlisted in the capital market," Mr Muhith said.

Proposals for Capital Market
Particulars	Existing	Proposed
Tax deductible at source on the premium over Face Value of shares	3%	NIL
Tax deductible at source on bond sale	0.05%	NIL
Tax rebate on the investment in private mutual funds	NIL	15%
Tax exempted dividend income threshold	5,000/-	10,000/-

As per another government offer, it is not required to pay tax at source on bond sales, although under the existing provision one has to pay 0.05 per cent tax on sales.

The government has offered this facility with a view to making the country's bond market more attractive and vibrant.

The more lucrative offer for the private mutual funds, which are presently in a dire state as many of their market prices have recently gone down below their net asset value (NAV), is that 15 per cent tax rebate will be applicable on the investment made in private mutual funds.

The move has been taken considering a condition made by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which said that a level playing field should be created for the mutual funds managed by both the state-run and private organisations.

Presently, tax rebate is applicable only for the investment made in the mutual funds managed by the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB).

Moin Al Kashem, managing director of the Prime Finance Asset Management Company, said that presently the investors would be benefited by purchasing units of private mutual funds amid a level playing field created by the government.

"We hope the investors will be interested for long-term investment in mutual funds," Mr. Kashem said. 

The government has also raised the tax- exempted dividend income threshold up to Tk 10,000 from the existing ceiling fixed at Tk 5,000.

According to another proposal, investment ceiling for an individual has been raised up to 30 per cent of total income fixed at Tk 15 million.

In that case, the individual will enjoy a 15 per cent tax rebate on his income invested in stock market.

Presently, a 10 per cent tax rebate is applicable on individual income by investing 20 per cent of total income fixed at Tk 10 million.

While, speaking on tax exemption on the income of the bourses, the Finance Minister said the government has a plan to consider the bourses' proposal when the proposed demutualisation becomes effective.

Both Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchange sought the facility, among others, in their budget proposals submitted to the government. 

"Our government wants to build the capital market as a dynamic source of capital. This prompted us to pay due attention to the development of the capital market from the very beginning," the Finance Minister said.

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In what appears to be a gamble drawn basically on a mix of fiscal measures, Finance Minister AMA Muhith unveiled in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) last Thursday a Tk. 2.22 trillion national budget for the fiscal 2013-14 with a hope of hitting twin goals of boosting the relatively slowed down economic growth and making the voters happy ahead of the next general election, due early next year. 

The finance minister in the proposed budget has sought to kick-start the engine of growth by bringing about changes in areas of duty and taxes and stepping up expenditure in social sectors. 

Despite the possibility of non-attainment of the tax revenue target set for the outgoing fiscal, he hopes to raise the government's revenue incomes substantially from direct and value added tax (VAT) next fiscal, about Tk. 130 billion in the case of direct tax and Tk. 95 billion in the form of VAT. As usual, the income from import duty will continue to remain stagnant in the coming fiscal. 

The finance minister has apparently banked heavily on tobacco manufacturing and mobile companies and investment of black money in land and apartments for increased income from direct tax revenue. However, the hike in corporate tax rate in the case of listed mobile phone company might be viewed as a step opposed to the government's pro capital market measures. 

The budgetary proposals on individual income tax slabs---the tax exempted income threshold has been raised to Tk. 220,000 from Tk. 200,000---, investment incentives, including the increase in the rate of tax rebate for investment by individual taxpayers and the hike in tax exempted house rent and conveyance allowances for salaried and low income people, though likely to be seen as populist moves ahead of next election, would go well with the people. 

The proposals to reduce duty on capital goods and intermediate raw materials, rationalization of the present slab of supplementary duty structure and extension of tax holiday facility up to 2015 are aimed at boosting investment which has been sluggish for quite sometime. 

Mr. Muhith has set a gross domestic product (GDP) growth target at 7.2 per cent for the upcoming fiscal against the backdrop of a lower-than-projected growth (6.0 per cent) in the outgoing fiscal and an uncertain political climate prevailing in the country. 

He does also expect the inflation rate to come down to 7.0 per cent in the next fiscal despite the fact the same was 8.37 (point-to- point) in April last.

In the proposed budget, the total expenditure has been estimated at Tk. 2.22 trillion (18.7 per cent of the GDP), including non-development expenditure of about Tk. 1.57 trillion and development expenditure of Tk. 658.7 billion. 

Mr. Muhith has proposed to fetch Tk.1.41 trillion as tax revenue and Tk. 262.40 billion as non-tax revenue to finance the next fiscal's budgetary expenditures. 

The overall budget deficit has been estimated at Tk. 550.3 billion or 4.6 per cent of the GDP. The government has proposed to finance the deficit largely by borrowing from the country's banking and other sources. It plans to borrow nearly Tk. 260 billion from the banking system and Tk. 79.71 billion through savings tools and other non-banking sources. 

The possible size of the borrowing in the next fiscal, according to experts, would largely depend on the spending on 'virtual allocations' made in the budget and the people's response to the tax cut and the hike in yield rates of government's savings tools. 

The response from general people to the savings tools in the outgoing year has been very poor. As against the government's projection to fetch Tk. 74 billion from the tools, a paltry of amount of Tk. 19.73 billion has been mobilized from the sale of the same in the outgoing fiscal. 

In the proposed budget, 23.17 per cent of the overall resources have been allocated to social infrastructure sector, mainly to human resources, 30.18 per cent to physical infrastructure sector and 22.45 per cent to general services. The government has set aside 3.29 per cent of the budgetary resources for the public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, financial assistance to different industries, subsidy and equity investment in nationalized banks and financial institutions. 

The government will have to spend in the next fiscal 12.47 per cent of the budget resources or Tk. 277.43 billion on interest payments. 

The subsidy expenditure in the outgoing fiscal will be Tk. 23.63 billion more than the amount (Tk.Tk.144.45 billion) estimated originally. However, the government has estimated the subsidy expenditure in the next fiscal on the lower side at Tk.154.43 billion.

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Local business conglomerate Orion Group has appointed world renowned ABN AMRO Bank N.V., the Dutch banking giant headquartered in Amsterdam, as the lead bank for its two ongoing 660 megawatts (mw) capacity power plant projects.

An agreement to this effect was signed Tuesday between Orion Group and ABN-AMRO at Orion House at Tejgaon in the city. 

Under the deal, ABN-AMRO will mobilise funding to implement these coal-fired power generation projects of Orion Group by coordinating with the respective export credit agencies and international commercial banks.

Managing Director of Orion Group Salman Obaidul Karim and Erwin Boon & Arnoud Sprangers of ABN-AMRO signed the deal on behalf of their respective sides.

Orion Group Chairman Mohammad Obaidul Karim was also present at the deal signing ceremony.

Orion Group has selected ABN-AMRO as the lead bank to implement its 1320-mw coal-fired power plant projects from a pool of interested global banks, said a company official.

ABN-AMRO has assets worth over 404.608 billion euros and operations across the globe.

Inspired by past success, ORION has decided to use the highest quality equipment and highly experienced consultants to execute these coal projects within contractual timeframe, the official said.

Orion will utilise super critical technology to implement these coal-fired power generation projects. 

GE of USA, Doosan of Korea, and Alstom of France have been selected as the original equipment suppliers (OEM) to implement these coal-fired power plant projects.

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Ms. Rehana Rahman, one of the Sponsor Director of Southeast Bank Limited has express her intention to buy 2,40,000 shares of the company through Stock Exchange by  next 30 working days at prevailing market price.

Sourch: DSE Website

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Meghna Life Insurance Company Limited has declared 30% cash dividend for the shareholders

of the company for the year 2012. Means shareholders will get Tk.3.00 for each share of Tk.10.00.

Record date for the dividend is on 11.06.2013. The AGM of the company will be held on 04.07.2013 at 11.00AM at "Muktijuddha Smrity Auditorium" Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh, 160/A, Kakrail VIP Road, Dhaka.

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