Zomato Grants 35.17 Lakh ESOPs Ahead Of Q1 Earnings

Ahead of its Q1 FY25 earnings, foodtech major Zomato today (August 1) announced allotment of more than 35.17 Lakh employee stock options (ESOPs). 

The board at Zomato has approved the allotment of 35,17,051 equity shares having a face value of INR 1 each, as fully paid-up upon exercise of 19,82,980 vested options to identified employees of the company and its subsidiaries, the company said in an exchange filing.

The company has granted 15.34 Lakh stock options under Zomato ESOP 2018, 8.75 Lakh options under Zomato ESOP 2021 and another 11.07 Lakh options under Zomato ESOP 2022, the filing showed.

With the latest increment in its ESOP pool size, Zomato’s subscribed and paid-up equity share capital has increased to INR 883.05 Cr from INR 882.69 Cr earlier.

Shares of Zomato opened Thursday’s trading session at INR 231.45 apiece on the BSE. As per the stock’s opening price today, the newly-allotted ESOPs would translate to shares worth nearly INR 81.4 Cr.

The stock climbed nearly 2% during the intraday trading session today to INR 234 apiece on the BSE.

The development comes at a time when Zomato has been doubling down on its presence in India and has unveiled a slew of new offerings and pilots recently, including an all-electric large order fleet, a ‘Pure Veg’ fleet, last-mile delivery for office goers inside corporate parks, as well as priority deliveries in parts of Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Last month, Zomato launched a new feature that will enable customers to remove their past orders from the app’s history. Recently, Zomato also rolled out a loyalty programme initiative for select restaurants.

The company has also begun facilitating income tax return (ITR) filings by its delivery partners to enable the latter to get refunds on their TDS deduction.

Zomato has also been improving its profitability every quarter, after first posting a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 2 Cr in the first quarter of FY24. The company’s profit stood at INR 175 Cr in Q4 FY24.