Unilever to buy GSK’s shares in 30 days

Unilever Overseas Holdings BV will acquire the shares at the prevailing market price

Unilever Overseas Holdings BV is set to buy 98.75 lakh shares of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Bangladesh within the next 30 days.

It will acquire the shares at the prevailing market price. The shares are in possession of Setfirst Ltd, a sister concern of GSK, the companies declared on Thursday.

GSK Bangladesh – a subsidiary of the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline plc – got listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 1976.

At present, the price per share of the company in the stock exchange is Tk2,046.30 in floor price mechanism.

On December 3, 2018, Unilever NV declared that it will buy GSK shares.

However, instead of Unilever NV, Unilever Overseas was going to buy the shares, said an official of the GSK Bangladesh. Both the organisations are sister concerns of the consumer goods giant Unilever.

GSK headquarters in late 2018 entered into a contract with another European multinational Unilever to sell its health food and drinks business worldwide.

Following the global deal, the two groups in India have recently amalgamated their concerned companies.

But in Bangladesh, they preferred a mother company of Unilever to buy out majority shares of GSK Bangladesh from GSK headquarters.

GSK shuttered its 60-year-old pharmaceuticals business in Bangladesh in 2018. The pharmaceuticals unit, based in Chattogram, was facing losses. To prevent any more losses, the company’s board decided to bring down the curtains on the business.

After shutting down the pharmaceuticals business, GSK made a profit of Tk98.57 crore in the last financial year. It also recommended a 530 percent cash dividend to its shareholders.

At present, Horlicks contributes to around 93 percent of GSK Bangladesh’s annual sales. The rest comes from mainly Sensodyne toothpaste, though there are some minor products like over the counter antacid brand Eno.

Meanwhile, in the first quarter of the current financial year, the company’s net income was Tk18.04 crore, down from Tk13.32 crore in the previous year.

In that perspective, the net income of the company has increased by 35.44 percent. During the period, its earnings per share were Tk14.97, an increase from Tk11.06 in the same period of last year.