Paytm’s Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma has recently purchased 1.7 lakh shares in One97 Communications, the listed digital financial services firm that owns Paytm brand.
The shares were purchased directly from stock exchanges on May 30-31, information available with bourses showed.
On May 30, Sharma bought 1,00,552 shares worth ₹6.31 crore and on May 31, he bought 71,469 shares worth ₹4.68 crore.
Paytm, which listed in bourses in November last year after a record ₹18,300 crore IPO, had issued shares through IPO at ₹2,150 apiece. The shares got listed below its issue price and since then had been on downward journey to touch an all time low of ₹511, but later recovered to trade around ₹600.
On Friday, Paytm’s shares closed on NSE at ₹646.30, up 5.27 per cent over previous day’s close of ₹613.95.
Sharma, who was a selling shareholder in IPO, is now able to purchase Paytm shares as the six-month restriction period was over by end May, said market observers.
Fund reports
Sharma had in April this year written a letter to shareholders conveying that the company will achieve operating EBITDA (EBITDA before ESOP cost) breakeven in the next six quarters.
“We are encouraged by our business momentum, scale of monetisation and operating leverage. We expect this to continue, and I believe we should be operating EBITDA breakeven in next six quarters (i i.e., EBITDA before ESOP cost, and by the quarter ending September 2023), well ahead of estimates by most analysts. Importantly, we are going to achieve this without compromising any of our growth plans,” Sharma wrote.
Goldman Sachs Research had in a report in May 2022 said the current share price offers a compelling entry point into the fastest growing, fintech platforms. J P Morgan had in early June backed Paytm’s path to profitability, reinstating ‘overweight’ rating for stock with an upside of over 60 per cent.
For 2021-22, Paytm’s revenue from operations grew 77 per cent year-on-year at ₹4,974 crore, while contribution profit increased 313 per cent year-on-year to ₹1,498 crore.
Fourth quarter revenue last fiscal recorded 89 per cent increase at ₹1,541 crore, while the contribution profit was up 210 per cent at ₹539 crore.