Awfis Reports Breach Of Insider Trading Norms By Sr Executive

SUMMARY

Awfis said that its vice-president of sales, Anandita Seal Sarkar, purchased another 25 shares without prior approval of the compliance officer

The audit committee shall take action as may deem fit in line with the requirements of code conduct, said Awfis in a filing with the BSE

This comes a day after brokerage IIFL Securities initiated its coverage on the coworking space startup with a ‘BUY’ rating and a price target of INR 980

Coworking space provider Awfis reported violation of insider trading rules by one of its executives.

In an exchange filing, Awfis said its vice-president of sales Anandita Seal Sarkar sold 15,764 shares of the company with prior approval but subsequently purchased 25 shares on the same date without prior approval of the compliance officer.

The shares were sold for INR 693.02 apiece for a cumulative sum of INR 1.07 Lakh on September 30, while the 25 shares were bought at INR 698.44 each for a total sum of INR 17,461.

This, the company said, breached the code of conduct under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015. Awfis said that the issue was discovered during a routine review on November 26 and was immediately referred to its audit committee. The panel will now take a call on the matter.

“Matter has been intimated to the chairman of the audit committee and the chairman of the board. The audit committee shall take action as may deem fit in line with the requirements of code of conduct,” the filing said.

Notably, this is not the first time that the executive of a listed startup has landed in a soup for flouting insider trading norms. Last year, Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer informed the bourses that a senior executive of the company flouted insider trading norms by trading shares worth INR 15 Lakhs without prior approval of the company secretary or compliance officer.

Shares of Awfis listed in May this year at INR 432.25 apiece on the BSE, a premium of 12.8% to its issue price of INR 383. Since then, the stock has rallied on the back of profitable numbers and healthy outlook.

Earlier this week, brokerage firm IIFL Securities initiated coverage on the company with a ‘BUY’ rating and a price target (PT) of INR 980.

Awfis reported a net profit of INR 38.67 Cr in the second quarter (Q2) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) as against a net loss of INR 4.34 Cr in the year-ago period. Revenue from operations jumped 40.46% to INR 292.38 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 208.15 Cr in Q2 FY24.

Shares of Awfis ended 0.21% higher at INR 720.75 on the BSE on Wednesday (November 27).

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