Wipro on Saturday said it has completed its ₹9,500-crore share buyback programme. The buyback saw Azim Premji-affiliated entities tendering 22.89 crore shares worth about ₹9,156 crore during the process, a regulatory filing said. “(A total of) 23.75 crore equity shares were bought back under the buyback at a price of ₹400 per equity share…The total amount utilized in the buyback is ₹9,500 crore,” it added.
The tendering period for the buyback programme opened on 29 December, 2020 and closed on 11 January, 2021. While Azim Premji Trust tendered 19.87 crore shares, Mr Azim Hasham Premji Partner Representing Hasham Traders tendered 1 crore shares and Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives tendered 51.82 lakh shares, the filing said.
Mr Azim Hasham Premji Partner Representing Zash Traders and Mr Azim Hasham Premji Partner Representing Prazim Traders tendered 75 lakh shares each, Wipro mentioned in the regulatory filing.
Post completion of buyback, the promoters hold 73.04% stake in the company, while the remaining 26.96 per cent stake is held by foreign investors, financial institutions and others.
Earlier in January, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also completed its ₹16,000-crore buyback offer, under which over 5.33 crore equity shares were bought back at a price of ₹3,000 apiece.
Wipro on reported 21% rise in consolidated net profit at ₹2,968 crore for the quarter ending 31 December, 2020. It was ₹2,456 crore in the year-ago period. Total revenue rose marginally to ₹15,670 crore in Q3FY21. Wipro expects revenue from its IT Services business to be in the range of $2,102-$2,143 million, which translates to a sequential growth of 1.5% to 3.5%. Consolidated IT services revenue rose to ₹15,333 crore from ₹15,101 crore a year ago. The company, which added 89 new customers in the IT Services segment, declared interim dividend of ₹1 per share.
