ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) sent a notice to Khyber Textile Mills Limited (KHYT) last week to disclose if the company has any knowledge about the unusual movement in price or volume in the shares of KHYT in the past month.
KHYT’s share price increased from a low of Rs 87 to a high of Rs 540 since the beginning of March, registering a massive increase of 509%.
The notice was sent by the listed companies compliance department of the PSX. It read, “It may be noted that PSX has observed that the price in the shares of KHYT has increased substantially during the last month. Please note that in case of any material/price-sensitive information that is likely to affect the market price/volume, you are required to share the same to the Exchange…”
KHYT replied on April 04, “we hereby state that we are not aware of any such matter and/or development that may have resulted in the increase in market share price and volume of Khyber Textile Mills Limited.
Furthermore, we would like to assure you that the Company is fully cognizant of all applicable legal and regulatory procedures and requirements and will continue to ensure compliance with the same.”
It should be noted that on February 27th, 2023, the share price of Khyber Textiles was trading at Rs 87.07. By mid-march, the share price had crossed Rs 200 and by the end of March the share had crossed Rs 400. On Thursday, the share price closed at Rs 530.72.
This is a massive increasing change of 509% in the share price of the company in just a little over a month. There have been no related announcements made public by KHYT over the past few months to the PSX which explains this huge change in share price. Profit reached out to the textile mill for comment but received no response.
Last week, another textile mill, J. A. Textile Mills Limited (JATM), also received the same notice from the PSX. The stock exchange regulator believed that there had taken place an usual movement in the share price of JATM. To this end, it sent a letter to the company to explain or disclose if it knew the reason behind the movement in price.
JATM published a notice the next day on March 29th to the PSX claiming that the company “does not have any material or price sensitive information to disclose” and it disassociated itself with the “price/volume surge in the share of the company”.
To note, the share price of JATM was around Rs 6-7 at the start of the year in January. However, by the middle of the month, the share price started to increase and crossed Rs 10 by month end, reached Rs 20 in early March, and is currently trading at Rs 35.70.
The share price of JATM registered a shocking uptick of over 400% in three months. Even more interestingly, J. A. Textile Mills has been shut down since September last year due to tough economic conditions which have forced many textile mills in the country to shut down.
Profit reached out to JATM for a comment but received no response.
Company profile
Khyber Textile Mills Limited is a Public Limited Company, incorporated on 26th August, 1961. The activities of the Company were the manufacture and sale of cotton/polyester yarn and cloth, however due to external factors production was halted in 2017.
Since then, the company has been operating an agricultural livestock business on its vacant land, as a revised principal line of business of the company. It has also been carrying out alternative business activities of renting excess buildings for warehousing and rental purposes since 2016.
The textile mill has outstanding shares of 1.2 million with a free float of just 1.21% or 14,876 shares available for trading.
