Staff Correspondent
Samuel S Chowdhury, chairman of Square Pharmaceuticals, expressed his willingness to purchase 15 lakh shares of the company, valued at over Tk 32 crore at the current market price on Monday.
Chowdhury, also a sponsor of the company which is the largest drug producer in the country, plans to acquire the shares at the prevailing market price in both the public and block markets through the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) within the next 30 working days, Square Pharmaceuticals said in a disclosure on the bourse's website.
As of Monday, Square Pharmaceuticals' share price is Tk 217.5 on the DSE, compared to the previous day's closing price of Tk 217.5. In the last month, similar announcements also came from the company's two other sponsor directors - Tapan Chowdhury and Anjan Chowdhury - who also expressed their intention to purchase 15 lakh shares each.
As of November 30, last year, Samuel S Chowdhury held a 9.32% stake in Square Pharmaceuticals, the biggest drug manufacturer in the country and a major concern of Square Group.
As of January this year, sponsors and directors held 42.91% of Square Pharmaceuticals' shares, while the public owned 27.67%. Foreign and institutional investors held 15.54% and 13.88 %, respectively. Navigating the current global and local macroeconomic challenges, the country's largest drug maker Square Pharmaceuticals posted a remarkable surge in its net profit in the first six months (July-December period) of FY25.
During this period, Square Pharma, the flagship company of Square Group, registered Tk 1,270 crore in net profit, compared to Tk 1,124.90 crore in the same period the previous year.
Despite several macroeconomic challenges on both global and domestic fronts, the pharma company displayed a handsome profit during the period thanks to policy support and the installation of tech-savvy machinery for the production of high-quality drugs.
Besides, the inclusion of anti-COVID drugs in its export basket also played a pioneering role in ramping up its earnings.
In the six months, the publicly traded company's consolidated earnings per share (EPS) rose to Tk 14.32 from earnings per share of Tk 12.69 for the same period last year.