EaseMyTrip Board Approves 1:1 Bonus Share Issue

Travel tech company EaseMyTrip’s board has approved its third bonus share issue. The company will be issuing one bonus equity share for every one fully paid-up equity share.

In an exchange filing, the company said that it would be issuing 177.20 Cr shares. “The bonus shares will be issued out of securities premium account received in cash and / or general reserve and / or retained earnings available as at March 31, 2024,” it added.

The company said it would require INR 177.20 Cr for implementing the bonus share issue and that it had a balance of INR 397.4 Cr available in the free reserve and share premium account as of March 31, 2024.

It added that the bonus shares would be credited to the demat accounts of the shareholders on or before December 12, 2024.

In the past, Easemytrip issued bonus shares twice. In October 2022, its board approved the issuance of bonus shares in the ratio of 3:1 and a stock split. Before that, the company issued bonus equity shares in the proportion of 1:1 in 2022 itself.

The company intimated the bourses about its plans to undertake its third bonus issue on October 9. Prior to that, its shares plunged to a fresh 52-week low of INR 31.10 during the intraday trading on October 7. 

The company’s shares have been on a decline since its cofounder and CEO Nishant Pitti offloaded a significant amount of his shares in the last week of September. On September 25, Pitti sold 16.91 Cr shares for INR 37.22 apiece, 6.73 Cr shares for INR 37.42 per share, and 1 Cr shares for INR 38.28 apiece. This reduced his stake in the company to about 14% from 28% earlier.

However, the decision to undertake the bonus issue led to a slight increase in the share price on a week-on-week basis last week. The stock gained in the later half of October 7-12 week, ending 2.67% higher week-on-week at INR 34.20. 

On Monday (October 14), the stock closed 2.16% lower at INR 33.46 after the announcement of the approval of the bonus share issue.