FPI holding in Paytm rises by 530 bps to 16.86% in June quarter

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) raised their stake in Paytm parent One 97 Communications by 530 bps to 16.86% in the June quarter from 11.56% in the March quarter amid the narrowing of the company's losses on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. However, mutual funds marginally lowered their holdings in the fintech company to 2.52% during this period from 2.71% as of March ended quarter.

Paytm which declared its June quarter earnings on Friday said its consolidated net loss narrowed to Rs 357 crore. It was Rs 644 crore in the year-ago period. However, the loss has widened when compared with Rs 168 crore reported in the preceding March quarter. Revenue from operations during the quarter rose 39% to Rs 2,342 crore as against Rs 1,680 crore clocked in the previous year's quarter.

The contribution profit for the first quarter is up by about 80% year-on-year to Rs 1,304 crore, with a margin of 56%. At the operating level, EBITDA before ESOP improved to Rs 84 crore, with margins at 4%, driven by an increase in contribution margin and operating leverage.

On Tuesday, ET reported that the Japanese investment firm SoftBank sold an additional 2% stake in One 97 Communications, generating proceeds of $180 million to $200 million. This has brought down SoftBank's stake to 9.18% in Paytm for the first time. As of the March quarter, it had held a 12.88% stake in the company.

Chinese retailer Alibaba has also been reducing its investments in Paytm. In the June ended quarter, its affiliate Antfin (Netherlands) Holding B.V. slashed its stake to 23.79% from 24.94% in March. In February, Alibaba.com Singapore E-Commerce Pvt Ltd had sold a 3.3% stake.

Paytm shares have outperformed the Nifty50 on a year-to-date basis, giving near 60% returns as against an 8.50% rise seen in the 50-stock index during this period.

The stock has been relatively low on volatility and traded with a beta of 0.74 over the last 12 months, according to Trendlyne data.

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