Walton chairman to transfer 3.64cr shares to family members
SM Shamsul Alam, a sponsor-director and chairman of Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC, has decided to transfer more than 3.64 crore shares to his wife and daughters.
According to the shareholding status for August, he owned 6 crore, or 19.81%, of the shares in the country’s tech giant.
Around 2.73 crore shares of SM Shamsul Alam will be transferred to his daughter Sabiha Jarin Orona, and his wife Shahinur Akter Jolly, both general shareholders of the company.
Sabiha Jarin Orona will receive 1.81 crore shares, while Shahinur Akter Jolly will receive 90.81 lakh shares of Walton.
Meanwhile, Shamsul Alam’s other daughter Tahmina Afrose Tanna, who is a shareholder-director on the board of Walton Hi-Tech Industries, will receive 91.75 lakh shares, according to disclosures published by the company on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
SM Shamsul Alam will transfer the shares as a gift, outside the trading system of the exchange, within the next 30 working days, effective from 11 September 2024, the disclosure reads.
At present, out of its 30.29 crore or 98.51% shares, the sponsor-directors of Walton own the majority stake. The remaining 1.49% is owned by general shareholders, including institutions with 0.66%, foreigners with 0.10%, and public shareholders with 0.73%.
Walton went public in 2020 by offloading only 1% of its shares in the secondary market. In 2021, the BSEC took an initiative to increase the free-float shares in the secondary market to reduce market manipulations.
Eventually, in September 2021, the commission directed Walton Hi-Tech Industries, along with the state-owned Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and Berger Paints (Bangladesh), to ensure at least 10% free-float shares.
According to Walton’s share buy/sell status report, as of 30 June 2024, 15.85 lakh shares were sold by the sponsors/directors to general and other shareholders.
In the fiscal 2023-24, Walton made a profit of Tk1,356 crore, a Tk573.85 crore increase compared to the previous fiscal year. The board of directors decided to pay 200% cash dividends to its sponsor-directors and 350% to the general shareholders.
