Policybazaar Parent Allots 48.30 Lakh ESOPs

PB Fintech, the parent entity of Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, has allotted 4,830,740 new shares under Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP).

The new shares were issued with a face value of INR 2 each under PB Fintech Employees Stock Option Plan 2021 to eligible members, according to its stock exchange filing. 

However, it didn’t reveal the number of employees who will benefit from this plan. 

With the issue of new shares to employees, the total number of shares increased from 45.12 Cr to 45.6 Cr. 

PB Fitech’s stock surged nearly 9% on Friday. This is possibly due to MSCI’s quarterly rebalancing, which added PB Fintech stocks to the MSCI Global Standard Index. This adjustment took place at the close of May 31, 2024. 

The MSCI India Index added 13 stocks while removing three in the May review.  Paytm was among the removed ones and  PB Fintech was added to the index.

This comes at the heart of PB Fintech witnessing an upward trend in their stocks which came on the back of its steadily improving business fundamentals of insurtech major Policybazaar.

Last month the company recorded a consolidated net profit of INR 60.2 Cr in Q4 of FY24 compared to a loss of INR 9.3 Cr in the same quarter of the previous year. On a sequential basis, its profit zoomed 62% in Q4 from INR 37.2 Cr posted in the last quarter. The company turned profitable in Q3 of FY24. 

Its operating revenue also rose 25% on both QoQ and year-on-year (YoY) basis to INR 1,089.6 Cr in Q4 FY24. For the same quarter in FY23, its operating revenue was INR 869.1 Cr.

During its Q4 earnings announcement on May 7, the company said, “Our consistent efforts to improve customer service and claims support are paying off with multiple heartening customer messages and continue to be reflected by a CSAT (customer satisfaction score) of 89% for Q4 FY24.”

This development comes at a time when the company is going through several developments in recent times.

In May, the company received the nod to divest stakes in at least two subsidiaries and pick up shareholding in a UAE-based insurance broker.  

The company will divest a 29.3% stake, or 2.93 Lakh shares, in Visit Health Private Limited (VHPL) for INR 76 Cr.

Alongside this, it is also planning to incorporate a new wholly-owned subsidiary to enter the payment aggregation business. The wholly-owned subsidiary will be set up with a proposed authorised share capital of INR 50 Cr and a proposed paid-up share capital of INR 27 Cr.

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