Massive dividend: This smallcap IT firm just declared 19,000% interim dividend 5 years after listing

Smallcap IT consulting and software firm Majesco today announced an interim dividend of Rs 974 per equity share of face value Rs 5 each. Listed in 2015, Majeso’s share price has zoomed 179% since listing. Most of this surge in stock price has come this fiscal year, with share price skyrocketing 332% since April this year. Majesco, along with other information technology firms has been able to reap benefits of the massive demand that stock markets witnessed for IT shares in the initial months of this fiscal year.

Majeso, currently trading at Rs 987 per share, has been able to surge to fresh 52-week high values repeatedly. The interim dividend of Rs 974 per share translates to Rs 2,788.4 crore on a shareholder base of 2.86 crore shares. “We wish to inform that the Board of Directors of Majesco Limited at its meeting held today i.e. December 15, 2020, has approved payment of interim dividend at the rate of 19480% i.e. Rs. 974/- per equity share of face value of Rs. 5/- each for the financial year 2020-21,” Majesco said in an exchange filing on Tuesday morning. The record date for the dividend has been set to December 25 this year.

Prior to the dividend, Majesco, in October this year had announced a buyback worth Rs 631 crore. The IT firm completed the buyback last week, purchasing 74.70 lakh equity shares through a tender offer at a price of Rs 845 per share. The buyback and dividend comes after the completion of the sale of Majesco US, which left the firm with cash of Rs 3,072 crore. In a note in October this year, brokerage firm ICICI Securities has said that Majesco might sell some of its real estate assets and divide the amount among shareholders, however, the amount that may be generated from such a sale is unknown. Analysts advise investors to steer clear of the stock, expecting the price to plummet post the dividend payout. 

In the financial year 2019, Majeso reported an operating profit of Rs 92 crore, and increased it to Rs 111 crore in the previous fiscal year. Net profit of the firm has increased over the last few years, going from Rs 5 crore at the end of March 2017 to Rs 69 crore at the end of financial year 2020.