Twenty-one companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) have avoided delisting despite failing to pay dividends to shareholders for at least five years.
The firms, described by local media as the market's "dividend-free club," continue to trade actively, with many shares commanding premiums over their book values.
The persistence of these listings underscores structural challenges in Bangladesh's equity market, where investor protection mechanisms appear insufficient to force accountability on long-term non-performers.
Most of the 21 companies have either shut down production facilities or are burdened by significant operational debts, yet they remain accessible to retail and institutional investors alike.
This development follows recent regulatory interventions by the DSE, which suspended trading for two other listed entities—Usmania Glass Sheet and Daffodil Computers—after their shares experienced sharp, unexplained price surges.
Those halts were aimed at curbing speculative volatility, contrasting with the passive stance toward the dividend-free cohort.