Berger Paints is one of the country's largest, almost debt-free paint makers — profit rises slowly but every year, and its cash dividend keeps growing; but nearly all the shares sit with its owners, so very few trade in the market.

Berger Paints Bangladesh makes and sells paints and coatings — the decorative paints people put on homes and buildings, plus industrial and protective coatings for factories and infrastructure. It is one of the country's oldest and most trusted paint names, and it has been trading on the Dhaka Stock Exchange since 2006.

It is a large, well-established business. The company has only 4.91 crore shares and paid-up capital of Tk 49.1 crore, but it sits on reserves of about Tk 1,505 crore — money built up from decades of retained profit. In its latest year (2025) it earned revenue of Tk 2,852 crore, so this is a company of real size, not a small player.

One thing to know up front: the shares are very tightly held. Sponsors and directors own about 89.76%, institutions hold 8.26%, and the general public holds just 1.97%. In short, it is firmly controlled by its parent group, with only a small slice of shares floating in the market.

Berger makes money in a simple way: it manufactures paint and sells it all over the country — to households painting their homes, to builders and developers, and to factories that need industrial and protective coatings. It reaches customers through a wide dealer and distribution network, so when construction and home-improvement activity picks up, paint sales tend to rise with it.

The sales trend has been steadily upward. Revenue grew from Tk 1,688 crore in 2021 to Tk 2,852 crore in 2025 — about 69% higher over five years. From that, the latest year produced operating profit of Tk 433.7 crore and net profit of Tk 337.0 crore, which tells you a healthy share of every sales taka reaches the bottom line.

Beyond paint, Berger owns 51% of a packaging subsidiary (Jenson & Nicholson Packaging), into which it recently committed a further Tk 51 million (about Tk 5 crore), and a new Managing Director is due to take charge from August 2026 — signs of an actively managed, still-expanding group.

The simplest test of a company is whether profit is growing, and here the answer is yes — every single year. Net profit rose from Tk 269.2 crore in 2021 to Tk 290.7 crore, Tk 301.0 crore, Tk 324.3 crore, and Tk 337.0 crore in 2025. There was no down year in this five-year stretch.

Profit for each share followed the same steady climb: Tk 58.03, then Tk 62.68, Tk 64.91, Tk 69.92, and Tk 72.66 in 2025. Both total profit and per-share profit are up about 25% over 2021 to 2025 — that works out to roughly 5-6% a year. So the growth is dependable, but slow rather than exciting.

Berger also turns sales into profit well. In 2025, revenue of Tk 2,852 crore produced operating profit of Tk 433.7 crore — a consistent, healthy margin year after year, which usually points to a strong brand and pricing power.

On safety, Berger looks very solid. Its total loans are only about Tk 54.9 crore, set against shareholders' equity of roughly Tk 2,384 crore. That is a company carrying almost no debt — the kind of balance sheet that can ride out a bad year without stress. Its reserves of about Tk 1,505 crore dwarf its paid-up capital of Tk 49.1 crore.

It also keeps a large cash cushion. The company held about Tk 594.3 crore of cash at the end of 2025, after Tk 766.5 crore a year earlier — plenty to fund operations, dividends and investment. Capital spending has been rising (Tk 185.5 crore in 2025, up from Tk 115.3 crore), which suggests it is still investing in capacity and growth.

One honest caveat: our dataset did not carry this company's year-by-year operating cash flow, so we judge its cash strength from profit, low debt and the cash balance rather than a full cash-flow statement. On those measures, its financial footing looks strong.

Berger is a reliable dividend payer, and the dividend has been rising. Its cash dividend went from 375% of face value in 2021 to 400%, 400%, 500% and 525% in 2025. Since the face value is Tk 10 per share, that 525% means about Tk 52.5 of cash per share for the latest year, up from Tk 37.5 in 2021. It pays cash only — no bonus shares — which many income-focused investors prefer.

Just as important, the dividend is comfortably covered by profit. The company earned Tk 72.66 per share in 2025 and paid out Tk 52.5 of it — roughly three-quarters — keeping the rest inside the business. A payout that sits below earnings is generally a safe, sustainable one.

The latest 525% cash dividend was formally declared for the year, with the AGM held on a digital platform. Note that the dividend amount is durable information; the dividend 'yield' (how the payout compares to today's price) changes with the price and is shown in the live box, not here.

Berger's real edge is its brand and its reach. Decades of trust, a name shoppers recognise, and a nationwide dealer network make it hard for a newcomer to break in — paint is a product where people stick with names they trust. Its scale backs this up: about Tk 1,505 crore of reserves and Tk 2,852 crore of yearly revenue mark it out as a genuine market leader, not a minnow.

Against the other companies grouped with it in the fact pack, its consistency stands out. Berger's profit rose in each of the five years, while several of the listed names are erratic — one saw earnings fall about 8% in the latest year, another is barely profitable (earning only a tiny return on shareholders' money), and a third has wildly swinging results. Berger's steady rise and stronger return on its owners' money are clearly in a different class.

One fair caveat: those 'peers' are a mixed bag — shipping, agro, packaging and feed businesses — not real paint rivals. Berger's true competition is other paint makers, which are not all captured in this comparison, so treat the peer contrast as broad rather than exact.

• A dominant, trusted paint brand with nationwide distribution — the kind of demand that lasts.
• Profit and per-share earnings rose every year from 2021 to 2025 (both up about 25%), on revenue up about 69%.
• Almost debt-free: total loans of about Tk 54.9 crore against equity of about Tk 2,384 crore, plus a cash cushion of about Tk 594.3 crore.
• A rising cash dividend five years running — up to 525% (about Tk 52.5 per share) — and comfortably covered by profit.
• Strong owner commitment, with sponsors and directors holding about 89.76% of the shares.

• Very thin free float: the public holds just 1.97% of shares, so few change hands — the price can be illiquid and jumpy, and building or exiting a position is not easy.
• Growth is slow — profit has risen only about 5-6% a year — so this is not a share for those chasing fast gains.
• Sponsor and director holding has fallen from about 95.0% (March 2025) to about 89.76% (March 2026); a widening float is not bad in itself, but it is worth watching who is selling.
• The company is still deploying money raised earlier through a rights share issue — the regulator extended the deadline to use those funds to March 2027 — so there is some execution and timing risk.
• It already pays out roughly three-quarters of its profit as dividend, which leaves less room to lift the dividend quickly or to reinvest heavily.

Berger Paints is a classic 'blue-chip' holding: a dominant, financially rock-solid market leader that grows slowly but surely and pays a dependable, rising cash dividend. It fits patient, income-minded and long-term investors who want stability and a proven business more than rapid growth.

It is a poorer fit for traders or anyone who needs to move in and out easily, because so few shares trade — and for those hunting fast capital gains, since profit grows only gradually. The single biggest thing to keep in mind is that very thin free float.

Whether today's price makes it attractive is a separate question from its quality, and that changes daily — check the live 'value today' box and the live buy/sell signal shown beside this report for the current read.