Despite SEBI Scrutiny, Spright Agro Plans Bonus Issue, 100% Dividend Payout

A company that was under SEBI’s radar for suspicious stock-related activities, with a share price below Rs 2, has informed shareholders that its board is meeting next week to consider a bonus issue and a 100% dividend payout. On Sept. 18, the board will review a proposal to issue 10 bonus shares for every one share held by the shareholder, according to its stock exchange notification on Tuesday.

The company in question is Spright Agro Ltd, and while the bonus issue and dividend payout remain subject to approvals, it is important to look back at what the company was being investigated for and what is on its board’s meeting agenda.

As reported by NDTV Profit on July 10, the markets regulator was probing possible violations in the company, related to preferential allotments, share splits, bonus issues, rights offerings, suspicious trading and offloading of shares by non-promoter entities, the people said. The alleged violations happened between August 2023 and April 2025.

Spright Agro’s board had previously approved a 1:10 stock split and a 1:1 bonus issue in February 2024, which took effect on March 18, 2024. This alone increased the company’s paid-up capital 20-fold to over 50 crore shares. Another 1:1 bonus issue followed in November 2024, pushing the paid-up capital further up to over 107 crore shares. In total, the company’s capital grew almost 40 times within a year.

Amid these actions, the company also issued 3.34 crore shares on a rights basis at Rs 13.40 per share in June 2024, raising approximately Rs 44.87 crore. However, 16 out of 35 original preferential allottees sold their rights and earned a combined profit of Rs 29.56 crore, raising questions about the intent behind the rights issue.

SEBI is also scrutinising a sudden and significant improvement in the company’s reported financials. Between the first quarter of FY21 and second quarter of FY24, Spright Agro’s net profit remained below Rs 51 lakh.

However, from November 2023 onward, around the time of the preferential allotment and warrant conversion, the company began reporting profit above Rs 5.5 crore per quarter.

While the company has been under the SEBI scanner, summons have likely not been issued in the case. Meanwhile, the company has come out with a detailed agenda for it upcoming board meeting.

A mail regarding the status of SEBI investigation has been sent to the regulator.

The company will consider issuing bonus equity shares in the ratio of 10:1, as per the disclosures made on the exchange website. This means shareholders could receive ten bonus shares for every one equity share held, subject to shareholder and other necessary approvals. This will be done by capitalizing free reserves and/or securities premium.

The board will also review a recommendation to declare a dividend of up to 100% on the equity share capital for the current financial year, pending applicable approvals.

In addition to financial decisions, the board will evaluate strategic steps to strengthen its existing agriculture value-chain operations. The company is exploring entry into AgriTech-related businesses.

The company has also disclosed that for the first quarter of FY26, Spright Agro reported revenue from operations of Rs 62.02 crore, reflecting a year-on-year growth of over 17% compared to Rs 52.88 crore in the same period last year.

Net profit rose by more than 46% to Rs 9.15 crore from Rs 6.25 crore in Q1FY25.

The company has completed agro commodity supply orders worth Rs 299 crore with various entities, including Rs 102 crore for Abhaynath Tradelink Pvt Ltd, Rs 97 crore for Saize Enterprise Pvt Ltd, and Rs 100 crore for Laxam Commtrade Pvt Ltd.

Founded in 1994 and formerly known as Tine Agro Limited, Spright Agro is engaged in agricultural and forestry operations.

NDTV Profit's queries to the company on Wednesday remained unanswered.