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WorldLink Communications, a leading internet service provider in Nepal, has received a series B investment of Rs 1.08bn ($8.4m) from the British International Investment (BII), the UK government’s development finance institution, and Rs 900m ($6.9m) from Dolma Impact Fund II. WorldLink had already received Rs 1.35bn ($12m) from BII in October 2019. With the latest series of funding, the total foreign investment in the company has reached Rs 3.33bn ($27.2m), the largest so far in the country's internet services industry. WorldLink is the country's largest private-sector ISP with more than 750,000 customers. According to the company, the money from the latest funding will be used to speed up its internet expansion activities across the country focusing on rural areas. Of late, the company has been expanding its services to rural Nepal with Karnali Province getting WorldLink FTTH service recently. According to WorldLink, the investment by BII and Dolma will further help to create an additional 1,000 jobs in the company. The capital provided by BII and DIF II will speed up internet expansion activities, said WorldLink. "It will enable WorldLink to provide reliable internet service to more small and medium enterprises and households," the company said in a press statement. "The wholeheartedness shown by BII and DIF II furthers our aim to transform WorldLink into an international-level company. The partnership has additionally motivated our aim to ‘connect anytime and anywhere’ and provided added excitement to speed up the further expansion of the network,” said Dileep Agrawal, chairman and managing director of WorldLink Communications. According to Abhinav Sinha, managing director and head of technology and telecoms at BII, their second investment will support WorldLink to further penetrate hard-to-reach areas in Nepal with reliable and affordable internet service, creating more jobs and opportunities to stimulate growth within the economy.

While there has been growth in the number of five-star hotel properties in the country over the years, very few of them are publicly listed companies. As of now, only four hotel companies are listed on Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse). Now, one more hotel is planning to go public. City Hotels Limited which runs the five-star property Hyatt Place has received permission from the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) for the initial public offering (IPO). The board has permitted the company to issue 1.674 units of ordinary shares worth Rs 167.4m at a base price of Rs 100 per share. The company is issuing 10 percent shares of its issued capital of Rs 1.674bn to the general public. City Hotels, a Golyan Group company, developed and brought the 153-room Hyatt Place into operation in Kathmandu one and a half years ago. Once the company completes IPO issuance, City Hotels Limited will be the fifth hotel company to be listed on Nepse. Till now, the hotel sector has been represented by four companies, namely Orients Hotel Ltd, Taragaon Regency Hotels Limited, Soaltee Hotel Limited, and Chandragiri Hills, in the domestic stock market. All four companies listed on the Nepse have posted net profits in the second quarter of FY 2022/23. Soaltee Hotel Limited posted a profit of Rs 251.43m in the second quarter of this fiscal, according to the company’s statement. The company posted a profit of Rs 40m during the same period of FY 2021/22. Orients Hotel Ltd. which runs a five-star property Radisson has recorded a profit of Rs 36.57m in the second quarter of FY 2022/23, compared to a loss of Rs 80m in the same period of FY 2021/22. Taragaon Regency Hotels Limited, which operates the Hyatt Regency Hotel has posted a profit of Rs 106.16m in the second quarter of this fiscal compared to a loss of Rs 1.25m in the same period of the last fiscal. The Chandragiri Hills, which operates a cable car and a five-star luxury resort in Kathmandu, reported a net profit of Rs 51.48m in the second quarter of 2022/23. The company which is the new entrant in the Nepse posted a net loss of Rs 5.8m in the second quarter of 2021/22. Among these four companies, only Soaltee Hotel Limited has announced dividends to its shareholders. The company's 48th annual general meeting decided to distribute a 26.31 percent dividend from the last fiscal year's profit.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 2, 000 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 107, 800 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 109, 800 per tola on Tuesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 107, 300 per tola. Similarly, the price silver has dropped by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,335 per tola today.

Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) is planning to introduce a new index 'Nepse 50' for share trading. The country's sole stock exchange aims to launch the 'Nepse 50' within the current fiscal year. According to stock exchange officials, a preliminary draft of the new index titled 'Procedures for Development, Management, and Regulation of Index, 2079' has been prepared and is currently being discussed internally within the Nepse. A senior official close to the matter said that the proposed procedure related to 'Nepse 50' is being discussed with the board of the Nepse. "Preliminary discussions are being held about this now. We are planning to launch the index next month (April)," he said. The Nepse is currently updating the data of the last five years of all the listed companies. It is said that after the data is ready, it will be tested and only after the complete procedure is ready, it will be conducted. Nepse has envisioned Nepse 50 as an index based on the share trading of 50 selected companies. The new index will comprise the top 50 companies in Nepse in terms of market capitalization and liquidity and will serve as a barometer for the Nepali stock market. According to Nepse officials, the NEPSE 50 Index will be calculated based on the market capitalization of common shares of 50 listed companies that are eligible for trading and clearing multiplied by the share trading price of that company. The companies which will be included in the Nepse 50 Index must have traded 25 percent or more of the shares to the general public. Similarly, they should have an average daily turnover of Rs 2.5 million or more for the period of six months. They should have an average daily transaction of 5,000 shares or above. The companies should have a minimum of more than 75 percent of trading days in the six months period. According to Nepse officials, the proposed index will have criteria such as maintaining the presence of companies from all sectors in the index ranging from the minimum to the highest amount, turnover share, number of turnovers, and companies with turnover. The Nepse 50 Index can later be traded as a derivative instrument.