24 listed companies will be relegated to 'B' category from the existing 'A'

Twenty-four listed companies will be relegated to 'B' category from the existing 'A', as paper share is not allowed for trading under 'A' category from January .

The Dhaka Stock Exchange disclosed names of the companies on its website yesterday. The firms failing to transform their paper shares into electronic ones by December 31 face this degradation from January 3.

The companies are Azadi Printers, Bangladesh Hotels, Bangladesh Plantation, Bangladesh Services, Eastern Lubricants Blenders, The Engineers, Fine Foods, Gemini Sea Food, Hill Plantation, Himadri, Jute Spinners, Kohinoor Chemical Company (Bangladesh) , Libra Infusions, Monno Ceramic Industries, Monno Jutex Industries, Monno Jute Stafllers, National Tea Company, Orion Infusion, Pharma Aids, Prime Textile Spinning Mills, Renwick Jajneswar & Company (Bangladesh) , Saiham Textile Mills, Sinobangla Industries and SonaliAansh Industries.

Earlier in July this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that paper share will not be allowed for trading under 'A' category from January next, as paper shares create problems in settling those in an electronic trading system.