EaseMyTrip To Consider Bonus Issue Amid Slump In Share Price

SUMMARY

EaseMyTrip’s board of directors will meet on Monday to consider and approve the issue of bonus shares

This will mark the third time that the travel tech startup has issued bonus shares, having issued bonus shares twice in 2022

This comes shortly after the startup’s share prices touched a 52-week low of INR 31.10 during the intraday trading on October 7

Weeks after travel tech startup Easemytrip cofounder and CEO Nishant Pitti offloaded a significant amount of his shares, the startup’s board is mulling to undertake a fresh bonus issue of shares.

In an exchange filing on October 9, EaseMyTrip said that its board of directors will meet on Monday (October 14) to consider and approve the issue of bonus shares.

For the uninitiated, bonus shares are issued by a company for free in proportion to the existing number of shares held by shareholders.

The development comes at a time when the startup’s shares have been on a downward spiral for the last few weeks. The stock hit a fresh 52-week low of INR 31.10 during the intraday trading on October 7 amid the broader market decline.

The downward spiral of EaseMyTrip’s shares began on September 25 when 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. With this, Pitti’s stake in the startup was reduced to about 14% from over 28% at the end of the June quarter. Since then, the startup’s shares have fallen over 16%.

In the past, EaseMyTrip has issued bonus shares twice. In October 2022, the startup’s 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 February 2022.

On the business front, EaseMyTrip has made a number of new announcements in recent months. On September 17, the company announced the acquisition of a 30% stake in Rollins International Private Limited for INR 60 Cr ($7.15 Mn) and a 49% stake in Pflege Home Healthcare Center LLC for INR 30 Cr ($3.5 Mn) to enter the medical tourism space.

Last month, the company also incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary Easy Green Mobility to foray into electric bus manufacturing. It plans to invest INR 200 Cr for R&D, product development, and setting up a manufacturing plant over the next 2-3 years.

Shares of EaseMyTrip ended today’s trading session 3.52% higher at INR 34.13 on the BSE.