Four listed biotech companies have announced a bonus issue in the past week to increase the stock's liquidity, and some of them enjoyed robust stock price growths.

Biobetter developer Alteogen said in a public disclosure on Tuesday that it decided to give shareholders one bonus share for every common stock held.

Under the decision, the company will issue 13,995,950 additional shares. The bonus issue will increase the share capital but not net assets.

With the announcement, Alteogen shares rose 2.55 percent to close at 281,000 won ($235.28) on Tuesday.

Alteogen is one of the four biotech firms that offered a bonus issue in the past week.

Earlier, antibody developer AbClon, immunotherapeutics firm Eutilex, and cell counting device maker Logos Biosystems announced plans to issue bonus shares for every common share on Wednesday last week, Friday, and Monday, respectively.

In June, LegoChem Biosciences, Jetema, PharmAbcine, Hugel, and Future Chem said they would issue bonus shares. Hugel offered two additional shares for every common share and the others, one new share for every common share.

The companies said the bonus issue was to increase liquidity in the stock and value for shareholders.

Investors regarded the bonus issue as a positive sign. Jetema and PharmAbcine, which announced a bonus issue on June 11 and June 15, respectively, saw their stock price jumping 21.92 percent and 25.75 percent on the disclosure day.

LegoChem Biosciences’ shares shot up 30 percent, a daily maximum, to close at 66,900 won on June 1.

However, biotech analysts cautioned against giving a rosy outlook based on the bonus issue alone.

Generally, investors regard the bonus issue as a sign of the financial soundness of a company. Still, some incapable companies offer bonus shares to lift the stock price.

“Bonus issue itself cannot be taken as a positive sign for stock price growth,” an analyst at a securities firm said, warning investors to make prudent decisions.

kch@docdocdoc.co.kr

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