Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills Halts Buyback Plan Amid Speculation

Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills Limited (PSX: HWQS) has decided to halt its share buyback and delisting process following an unexpected surge in the company’s share price, which the Board says was driven by speculative trading. In a meeting held on July 25, 2025, at the company’s registered office in Model Town, Lahore, the Board of Directors expressed concern that the public dissemination of the buyback and delisting proposal led to artificial inflation of the company’s share price. The Board noted that the share price surged by more than 200 percent after the disclosure, rising from around Rs. 10 per share (the price prior to the intimation on June 26, 2025) despite the company having no ongoing operations or profit-based returns. The Board emphasized that the recent price hike was “purely speculative” and driven by market participants seeking to offload shares at inflated prices, indirectly pressuring the company into offering a higher buyback price. The Board stated that such market behavior undermines transparency and does not reflect the company’s operational or financial reality. The Company Secretary informed the Board that none of the sponsors or company officers had participated in trading the shares after the buyback announcement, confirming that the transaction was handled transparently and without any insider benefit. The Board unanimously decided to suspend the buyback process “for the time being” and halt any further activity related to the delisting. Separately, the Board discussed the future of its mill operations. The Chairman stated that efforts are underway to revive the project by selling off-balance sheet assets, with the goal of restarting sugar mill operations in the 2025–26 crushing season. However, the process has been delayed due to a slowdown in the real estate market, which has affected asset disposal.