Sobha Buys Back Rs 58-Crore Shares

New Delhi: Realty firm Sobha on Monday said it has bought back 17.59 lakh shares from existing shareholders for Rs 58 crore.

In May, the company’s board had approved a buyback of up to 22.75 lakh shares for about Rs 75 crore.

“The company has bought back 17,59,192 equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 58,05,33,360 being 1.79 per cent of the total paid up equity share capital, at Rs 330 per share,” the Bengaluru-based developer said in a filing to the BSE.

After the buyback of shares, promoters’ stake has come down to 60.24 per cent from 60.58 per cent.

The tendering period for the buyback offer opened on June 29 and closed on July 13.

“We believe that the proposed buyback will enhance the long term shareholder value,” Sobha vice chairman and MD J C Sharma had said.

Shares in Sobha, on Monday, ended 0.66 per cent higher at Rs 322.55 apiece on the BSE, whose benchmark Sensex index finished up 1.05 per cent.

During the entire fiscal year 2015-16, net profit dropped 35.6 per cent to Rs 153.3 crore, as against Rs 238.1 crore in the previous fiscal year.

Income from operations also fell to Rs 1,865 crore last financial year from Rs 2,440.6 crore in the fiscal year 2014-15.

Sobha is currently executing 40 real estate projects in 9 cities measuring 41.20 million square feet of developable area and 29 million square feet of saleable area.

It also has 27 contractual projects measuring 8.07 million square feet of developable area.

PTI