A big, financially rock-solid mobile phone company that pays a generous cash dividend every year — but its profit has been slowly sliding and it hands out almost everything it earns.

Grameenphone provides mobile phone and internet services across Bangladesh. It has been listed on the stock market since 2009, so it has a long public track record. In money terms it is a very large company: its shares add up to a paid-up capital of about 1,350 crore taka, and on top of that it has built up reserves (past profits kept inside the business) of roughly 3,517 crore taka.

The company has 135 crore shares in total, each with a face value of 10 taka. Ownership is very concentrated. The founding sponsor group holds 90% of the shares. Institutions hold about 6.71%, ordinary small investors ("the public") hold only 2.78%, and foreign investors hold 0.51%. So most of the company is controlled by one big owner, and only a small slice trades freely in the market.

It operates in the telecom sector, which in our data has only a handful of listed players. By the scale of its sales and profit — shown in the sections below — Grameenphone is among the largest telecom companies on the exchange.

Grameenphone makes its money by selling mobile connectivity — voice calls, internet and data packages, and related services — to a large number of everyday customers. People pay it regularly through recharges and bills, so the income is steady and repeats month after month. In 2025 its total sales (revenue) were about 15,806 crore taka.

Those sales have been remarkably steady: around 15,872 crore taka in 2023, 15,845 crore taka in 2024 and 15,806 crore taka in 2025. In other words, the top line has essentially flattened out over the last three years — this is a mature business, not a fast-growing one.

The strong point is how efficiently sales become profit. Out of that roughly 15,806 crore taka of 2025 sales, about 5,640 crore taka was operating profit (profit from the core business before financing and tax). A mobile network is expensive to build but cheap to run once it exists, so once the towers and equipment are in place, a large share of each taka of sales drops through to profit.

The company is solidly profitable, but the trend has been gently downward. Net profit was about 3,719 crore taka in 2020 and about 2,958 crore taka in 2025 — a fall of roughly 20% over the six years. Profit per share followed the same path, from 27.54 taka in 2020 to 21.9 taka in 2025, also down about 20%.

The path was bumpy, not a straight line. Profit dipped in 2021 and 2022 (down to about 3,009 crore taka), recovered nicely in 2023 and 2024 (net profit reached about 3,631 crore taka and profit per share 26.89 taka in 2024), and then fell back again in 2025 to about 2,958 crore taka — the lowest in this six-year window.

What makes the 2025 dip notable is that sales barely changed, so the lower profit came from higher costs rather than falling sales. Operating profit slipped from about 6,443 crore taka in 2023 to about 5,640 crore taka in 2025. The company still turns a very large share of its sales into profit, but that share has been shrinking a little.

This is one of the company's strongest points. It uses very little borrowed money. Its debt compared with its own money (equity) is tiny — a ratio of about 0.12 in 2025, and it has stayed between 0.05 and 0.12 over recent years. Its total loans are only about 700 crore taka against its own equity of about 5,602 crore taka. A low-debt company like this can comfortably survive a weak year.

It is also very cash-generative. In 2025 the cash actually produced by the business (operating cash flow) was about 6,157 crore taka — well above its reported net profit of about 2,958 crore taka — and it has stayed near 6,000 crore taka every year. Spending on network equipment (capex) was about 1,403 crore taka in 2025, comfortably below the cash it brought in, so plenty of cash is left over. A local rating agency has also given it the highest possible long-term credit rating (AAA, with a stable outlook), a sign it is seen as very safe.

One thing to note: because it pays out almost all of its profit as dividend, it does not pile up a large cash cushion. Its cash on hand was about 675.9 crore taka at the end of 2025, down from about 1,672 crore taka in 2023, and its equity edged down from about 6,669 crore taka in 2023 to about 5,602 crore taka in 2025 — partly because of those big payouts.

Grameenphone is a committed cash-dividend payer. It has paid a cash dividend every year in our records: 275% of face value in 2020, 250% in 2021, 220% in 2022, 125% in 2023, 330% in 2024 and 215% in 2025. In taka-per-share terms that is 27.5, 25.0, 22.0, 12.5, 33.0 and 21.5 taka respectively. For income-focused investors, that regular payout is the main attraction.

The amount does move around, though — it is not a fixed figure. It was cut sharply to 12.5 taka per share in 2023, then jumped to 33.0 taka in 2024, then came back to 21.5 taka in 2025. So the dividend broadly tracks how profit does each year rather than staying flat.

The big caution is how much of profit the dividend now uses. In 2025 the company earned about 21.9 taka per share and paid out 21.5 taka — that is almost every taka of profit going out the door. It has continued this into 2026: it recently declared an interim cash dividend equal to 100% of its first-half 2026 profit (105% of face value, i.e. 10.50 taka per share). Paying out nearly everything is generous, but it leaves little room to raise the dividend and makes it vulnerable to a cut if profit falls — exactly what happened in 2023.

Grameenphone's real advantage is its size and the efficiency that comes with it. Building a nationwide mobile network costs a fortune, which keeps out new competitors, and once built it serves a huge customer base cheaply. That shows up in the numbers: a very large share of its sales becomes profit (about 5,640 crore taka of operating profit on about 15,806 crore taka of sales in 2025), and it throws off remarkably steady cash — operating cash flow near 6,000 crore taka every year for the last five years.

Its ownership also points to a committed, aligned backer: the sponsor group holds 90% of the shares. A long listing history (since 2009) and the highest local credit rating add to the picture of a well-entrenched, dependable operator.

The edge is not unbeatable, though. Sales have flattened at around 15,800 crore taka, and the latest year's profit per share actually fell (from 26.89 taka in 2024 to 21.9 taka in 2025). Meanwhile a competitor in the same fact pack, Robi, grew its profit per share strongly in its latest year (about +33.6%), while another, Bangladesh Submarine Cables, was roughly flat (about -0.8%). So Grameenphone is still the big, highly profitable operator, but rivals are growing faster from a smaller base — its lead is in scale and cash, not in growth.

• Very strong cash generation. The business produces around 6,000 crore taka of operating cash every year — well above its reported profit — giving it real financial firepower.
• Rock-solid balance sheet. It borrows very little (debt of about 700 crore taka against equity of about 5,602 crore taka in 2025) and carries the highest local long-term credit rating (AAA).
• Long, reliable dividend record. It has paid a cash dividend every year from 2020 to 2025, which is attractive for income seekers.
• Large and efficient. A big share of sales turns into profit (about 5,640 crore taka of operating profit on about 15,806 crore taka of sales in 2025), reflecting a hard-to-copy network position.
• Committed owner. The sponsor group holds 90% of the shares, so the controlling owner's interests are closely tied to the company.

• Profit is drifting down. Net profit and profit per share both fell about 20% between 2020 and 2025, and 2025 (net profit about 2,958 crore taka, profit per share 21.9 taka) was the weakest year in the window.
• Growth has stalled. Sales have been stuck around 15,800 crore taka for three years, so there is little sign of expansion.
• The dividend is stretched. In 2025 it paid out 21.5 taka of its 21.9 taka per-share profit, and its recent interim dividend used 100% of first-half profit — leaving little cushion and real risk of a cut if profit slips, as happened in 2023 (dividend down to 12.5 taka).
• Rivals are growing faster. Peer Robi grew profit per share about +33.6% in its latest year while Grameenphone's fell — competition is intensifying.
• Thin free float and an auditor note. Only about 2.78% of shares are held by the public (sponsor 90%), so very few shares trade freely; and the auditor added an 'emphasis of matter' note to the 2025 accounts, which is worth keeping an eye on.

Grameenphone suits an investor who wants a large, financially very safe, dividend-paying company to hold for the long term and to collect regular cash income from — rather than someone chasing rapid growth. Its low debt, strong steady cash flow and top credit rating make it one of the more dependable names on the exchange.

The honest caveats are that its profit has been slowly declining, its sales have stopped growing, and it now pays out almost all of its earnings as dividend — so both the profit and the dividend could come under pressure in a weak year, and there is little cushion. Whether today's price fairly reflects all of this is shown in the live value box beside this report, not here.