MJL Bangladesh PLC yesterday announced that it plans to increase its stake in Omera Petroleum Ltd (OPL), one of the major liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sellers in Bangladesh, by purchasing shares worth Tk 60.49 crore.

In a post on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website, MJL said its board of directors had approved a plan to buy 2.77 crore shares of OPL from the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO at Tk 21.80 per share.

The decision is subject to regulatory approval, MJL added.

After the completion of the proposed share transfer, MJL's stake will increase to 75 percent, according to the company, which is a lubricant blender and grease product seller.

MJL Bangladesh's shareholding in Omera Petroleum was 62.49 percent at the end of June 2024.

OPL was established in 2015 through a partnership between BB Energy and FMO. As of June 30 last year, FMO held a 12.5 percent share in OPL.

OPL has a bottling capacity of 300,000 tonnes per annum.

The LPG seller posted Tk 1.92 crore in profits for the financial year (FY) 2023-24, according to the annual report of MJL, which recorded a marginal rise in earnings that year.

In the preceding year, OPL had made a profit of Tk 77 lakh.

Yesterday, MJL said its earnings had increased in the October-December quarter of FY25.

The company stated that its profit for the three months surged 37 percent year-on-year to Tk 104.26 crore.

Consequently, its earnings per share (EPS) rose to Tk 3.23 for the period, up from Tk 2.31 a year ago.

With the second-quarter earnings, MJL's income rose 30 percent to Tk 217.46 crore in the first half of FY25.

As a result, the consolidated EPS of MJL increased to Tk 6.66 in the first half of FY25, up from Tk 5.01 in the same period a year ago.

Shares of MJL rose 1.81 percent to close at Tk 95.7 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.