Birlasoft rise 2% on share buyback plan; down 37% this year

Shares of Birlasoft gained over 2% in early trade on Monday after the software company announced a plan to buyback equity shares worth ₹390 crore. The company, a part of the diversified CK Birla Group, in an exchange filing says it has fixed July 15 as the record date for the proposed buyback of up to 78 lakh shares at ₹500 each.

Snapping two sessions losing streak, Birlasoft share price gained 2.2% in opening trade to ₹357.4, against the previous closing price of ₹349.7 on the BSE. The stock has fallen more than 5% in a week and 4.5% in past one month.

The stock has registered double-digit losses this year after hitting a 52-week of ₹585.85 on January 10, 2022. The IT share has fallen 38% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis, while it touched a 52-week low of ₹316.35 on June 20, 2022. The stock has delivered a negative return of 10% to its shareholder over one year period, falling from ₹390.35 on July 5, 2021, to ₹351.3 in intraday today.

Birlasoft to buyback equity shares worth ₹390 cr

The IT company on July 1 informed the exchanges that its shareholders have passed a resolution to buyback up to 7,800,000 fully paid-up equity shares with a face value of ₹2 each at a price of ₹500 apiece. The company has fixed July 15, 2022, as the record date for the purpose of determining the entitlement and names of equity shareholders who are eligible to participate in the buyback.

The buyback size is 24.97% and 16.32% of the aggregate of the fully paid-up equity share capital and free reserves of the company as per the latest audited standalone and consolidated financial statements of the company as of March 31, 2022, respectively.

“This is in continuation to the intimations made by Birlasoft Limited (“Company"), regarding approval of the board of directors and of the members of the company for buyback of upto 7,800,000 fully paid equity shares of ₹2 each of the Company, vide letters dated May 23, 2022 and July 1, 2022. Pursuant to the Regulation 42 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, and Regulation 9(i) of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Buy-back of Securities) Regulations, 2018, we wish to inform you that the Company has fixed Friday, July 15, 2022 as the Record Date for the purpose of determining the entitlement and names of equity shareholders who are eligible to participate in the buyback," says the company.

Last week, the company had announced a record date for dividend payment for the financial year 2022. “The record date to determine the members who will be eligible to receive final dividend, if approved at the ensuing AGM, will be Friday, July 15, 2022. The said dividend, if approved, will be paid as per statutory timelines,” it said in a BSE filing.

For the year ending March 2022, Birlasoft has declared an equity dividend of 225% amounting to ₹4.5 per share.