Delhivery approves allotment of 1.7 lakh shares against exercised Esops

Delhivery’s stakeholder relationship committee has approved the allotment of 170,676 shares against the exercise of vested employee stock options granted under its employee stock ownership plan (Esop) of 2012 and 2020, the new-age logistics company said in a regulatory filing.

The company has projected a cost of Rs 566 crore on Esops that are already granted over the next five years, of which Rs 282 crore is the projected cost for the ongoing fiscal year.

As of September 30, the Gurugram-based company had 34.65 million Esops, of which 30.24 million are unvested.


In addition, the company has 43.45 million ungranted Esops, representing almost 5.4% of its shareholding.

During its second-quarter earnings call in November, Delhivery’s chief financial officer Amit Agarwal said that a significant majority of the 43.45 million shares will vest only if the company’s stock price reaches Rs 800, Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200.

On Friday, shares ended trading at Rs 320.70 apiece.

For the allotment of 170,676 shares, Delhivery’s stock options have been exercised within a range of 10 paisa per share to Rs 29.85 per share.

Also Read: ETtech Explainer | What are Esops and what do they mean for employees and employers?

Delhivery’s revenue for the second quarter grew 19% year on year to Rs 1,796 crore, while losses narrowed 60% to Rs 254 crore from a loss of Rs 635 crore in the corresponding period last year.

During the September-quarter, the company’s Esops expenses towards granted options stood at Rs 79 crore, from Rs 70 crore in the quarter ended June 30.

Last month, the logistics company had approved the grants of 46,219 Esops under th eDelhivery Employees Stock Option Plan 2012. It also approved and allotted 12,55,568 equity shares of face value of one rupee each in the same month — of which 6,82,168 were under its 2012 Esops plan, and the remaining 5,73,400 under its 2020 Esops plan.

Tech companies and startups typically turn to Esops to attract and retain the best talent by pegging a part of their compensation to the company’s stock price.

Companies such as Flipkart, Oyo, Zomato, Paytm and Nykaa are among those with one of the largest Esop pools in India.

Companies also offer to buy back Esops from employees, which provides a liquidity boost. Last month, as part of the Flipkart-PhonePe integration, it was announced that employees who held stock options in Flipkart would be paid cash equal to the value of PhonePe within those holdings.