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The securities regulator has approved a 2 per cent stock dividend proposed by Rupali Bank for FY2020–2021 after the central bank rejected its cash dividend proposal.
“Bangladesh Bank declined approval of 2 per cent cash dividend instead of 2 per cent stock dividend. Later, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission has accorded its consent for issuance of 2 per cent stock dividend for the year ended December 31, 2021,” said the bank in a statement on Monday.
The new record date for entitlement of stock dividend will be notified later, it said.
Earlier, the BSEC directed the bank not to declare any stock dividends because the bank has never given any cash dividends to its investors since 1986 when it was listed on the stock exchanges.
In contrast, the Bangladesh Bank did not approve the 2 per cent cash dividend proposal of the bank due to regulatory constraints.
Under the BSEC pressure, Rupali Bank recommended a 2 per cent cash dividend in its 36th annual general meeting (AGM) held on August 7 this year.
Rupali Bank’s default loans stood at Tk 3,972 crore, including Tk 3,825 crore in bad loans. Its paid-up capital is Tk 455 crore. The nature of bad loans makes it difficult to recover, the BB data showed.
The company was downgraded to the ‘B’ category from the ‘A’ category on August 10 this year because of the approval of a 2 per cent cash dividend.
In the first half of 2021, its total operating profit was Tk 581.85 crore, up 9 per cent compared to the same period a year back.
The state-owned bank’s consolidated earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 0.07 for April-June of 2022, which was Tk 0.22 in the same period a year ago.
On Monday, the bank’s share remained unchanged at Tk 25.70 on the DSE.
