FROM PAGE B1

He confirmed that the unit’s name will remain unchanged: Confidence Cement Limited.

The move underscores the increasing financial strain faced by cement manufacturers, many of whom are being forced to rethink their business models amid a myriad of challenges, including declining demand, squeezed profit margins, falling investments, higher input costs, reduced private sector activity, and weak infrastructure spending by the government.

Confidence Cement’s stock closed at Tk 63.30 on the DSE yesterday, rising 1.44 percent from the previous day.

The company reported a profit of Tk 24.84 crore in the January-March quarter of this year, although earnings per share fell to Tk 2.88, down from Tk 3.00 in the same period last year.

DSE data show that, as of August 31, sponsors and directors held 30.34 percent of the company’s shares, while institutional investors owned 37.63 percent and the general public 32.03 percent.