-wants trading suspended in the interim
Banks DIH (BDIH) has written the securities council expressing extreme concern at the fall in its share price despite large profits and has called for a full investigation of the matter and a suspension in the trading of its stock.
Since its Annual General Meeting on January 27 this year the matter has come to a boil and in a notice to shareholders in the June 6th edition of Stabroek News, Banks DIH, one of the oldest and largest private companies here, went public with its correspondence to the Guyana Securities Council (GSC).
In the June 4th letter to the GSC, Banks DIH said “…please note that for the period 2019 to 2023 revenue increased by some 48.8 per cent and profit after taxation increased by some 79.7 per cent. By way of contrast, the share price was $300 per share in March, 2022 and in May, 2024 it is now $115 per share, a decline of some 61.7 per cent. Such a comparison of the price of shares going down as the same time that profits are going up defies any logical explanation and raises fundamental questions as to the integrity of the Stick Market. Any reasonable person would consider that the Stock Market in Guyana cannot be taken seriously!”
Taking this into consideration, Banks DIH, which has thousands of shareholders, said it pointed out to the GSC that any reasonable person would concluded that:
-There is a continuing pattern of an unusual drop in the price of BDIH shares due to a minimal amount of trading and that there is no credible explanation which can be offered for this:
-The price diminution “raises the spectre of some improper trading activity which needs to be investigated”;
-The integrity of the Stock Market is in issue and the protection of the public interest necessitates a determination of the reasons for what has happened and continues to happen.
In its letter, BDIH said that the only way one can get to the bottom of the matter is to suspend trading on the stock exchange of BDIH shares and to probe and determine what is occurring.
In the notice to shareholders, BDIH said that it has asked the GSC to investigate and report on the reasons for the fall in the price of its shares, change the rules of the Stock Exchange in order to rectify the current state of affairs which has prevailed for over 16 years without the GSC’s intervention. Whilst these two activities are proceeding, the company called for a suspension in the trading of its shares.
BDIH said that it has been forced to take this step to not only protect shareholders but also to protect the credibility and integrity of the stock market here.
“This is a matter which has been debated, not only very recently, but also in correspondence between this company… (and the GSC) going back nearly 16 years. The correspondence can be traced as far back as November, 2008. The GSC has expressed a willingness to deal with the problem. However, no action has ever been taken to deal with this situation”, the company lamented.
Shareholders were reminded that their shares can be transferred at the Banks DIH Shares Registry.
The Guyana Securities Council is intended to operate as an independent entity with the primary objective of fostering the orderly expansion and progress of the securities market. It functions within a flexible regulatory structure aimed at facilitating capital mobilization in the nation’s best interests, while ensuring transparency, efficiency, fairness, and competitiveness. Section 5 of the Securities Industries Act Chap 73:04 (‘SIA’) mandates that the GSC ensures “orderly, fair, and equitable dealings in securities” and fosters conditions necessary for the orderly growth and development of the capital market.
