Wipro shareholders seem to have reasons to be happy, even as the stock is on track to post its steepest annual decline in three years. The company rewarded them handsomely in the first half of FY27, with shareholder payouts exceeding its net profit for the period by more than two-and-a-half times.
On Thursday, the Bengaluru-based software company announced its September-quarter results, which were in line with Street estimates. It posted a net profit of ₹3,200 crore, down 2% from the same period last year and 9% from the June quarter.
For the first half of FY27, the company posted a net profit of ₹6,556 crore. However, it returned substantially more than its earnings to shareholders through share buybacks and dividend payouts.
The domestic IT major bought back 60 crore shares at ₹250 apiece in June, resulting in a total cash outflow of ₹15,051 crore. In addition to the buyback, the company paid a dividend of ₹1,978 crore, taking the total shareholder payout to ₹17,029 crore, which is 2.6 times higher than the H1 profit.
In June, Wipro completed the buyback at a 23% premium to the prevailing market price. The company said it was returning excess cash on its balance sheet after ensuring that the net cash available following the buyback would be sufficient to support its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) ambitions and large strategic deals.