IT major Wipro on Tuesday said its board had approved buyback of 323.1 million equity shares worth Rs 10,500 crore at Rs 325 per share of Rs 2 face value.
"The quantum of shares for buyback through a tender offer on proportional basis represents 5.25 per cent of the total paid-up equity capital," said the city-based firm in a statement here.
The company had bought back shares valued at Rs 11,000 crore in 2017 and worth Rs 2,500 crore in 2016.
In a related development, the board has also allotted bonus shares of 1:3 (one bonus for every 3 shares) held by its shareholders till March 7.
The board has, however, not recommended any final dividend. The interim divided of Re 1 or 50 per cent has been declared as the final dividend pay-out for the fiscal under review.
Wipro on Tuesday reported a Rs 2,494 crore net profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018-19, registering 38 percent annual growth.
For fiscal 2018-19, net profit grew 12.4 per cent annually to Rs 9,000 crore.
In a regulatory filing on the BSE, the city-based IT major said revenue for the quarter under review grew 9 per cent annually to Rs 15,006 crore.
Revenue from IT services business grew 2.8 per cent annually and 1.4 per cent quarterly to Rs 14,565 crore for the quarter.
Under the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), net income for the quarter is $359 million, total revenue $2.2 billion and $2,076 million from IT services.
Gross revenue for the fiscal grew 7.5 per cent annually to Rs 58,580 crore ($8.5 billion) and 3.8 per cent annually to Rs 56,970 crore from IT services.
Revenue from IT products business was Rs 280 crore ($39.9 million) for the quarter and Rs 1,230 crore ($178 million) for the fiscal.
Operating margin from IT services for the quarter at 19 per cent was 4.4 per cent up annually and 17.9 per cent for the fiscal which is 1.8 per cent annual growth.
The firm projected $2,046-2,087 million revenue from its IT services for the first quarter of new fiscal 2019-20, which will be a flat growth of 0.1-1.0% rate quarterly.
"Our teams have executed well on our strategy, which has resulted in consistent improvement of year-on-year (YoY) growth each quarter," said Wipro Chief Executive Abidali Z Neemuchwala in a statement later.
The company added 63 clients during the quarter as against 57 a quarter ago and a year ago, taking their total for the year to 1,115 by the quarter-end as against 1,132 a quarter ago and 1,178 a year ago.
"We have built a strong foundation for growth on the back of healthy order book and investments in digital, cyber security, engineering services and cloud," added Neemuchwala.
With 954 techies leaving the company during the quarter, the total number of employees declined to 171,425 from 172,379 a quarter ago though up 11,502 from 159,923 a year ago.
"Our rigour in execution and focus on improved quality of revenues has resulted in operating margins expand 1.8 per cent for the fiscal," Chief Financial Officer Jatin Dalal in the statement.
The company's operating cash flows was robust and 129.2 per cent of net income for the year./Eom./400 hundreds.
The company's blue chip firm, however, lost Rs 7.05 per share of Rs 2 face value at the end of Tuesday's trading on the BSE to close at Rs 281.10 from Monday's closing rate of Rs 288.15 after the opening price at high of Rs 291.30.