Patanjali Foods on Wednesday announced that its board of directors approved the formation of two wholly owned subsidiaries of the company in India. “In furtherance to our intimation vide letter dated 23rd February, 2024 and 29th February, 2024 and pursuant to Regulation 30 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, as amended, we wish to inform you that the Board of Directors of the company, at its meeting held today i.e. Wednesday, 13th March, 2024 has, inter alia approved…the formation of two wholly owned subsidiaries of the company in India,” it said in a regulatory filing.
The company also declared an interim dividend of Rs 6 (i.e. 300 per cent) per equity share on 36,19,18,554 (net of 76,299 treasury shares) of Rs 2 each for the financial year 2023-24. The payment of the same will be made on or before 11th April, 2024. “The board of directors of the company has fixed Thursday, 21st March, 2024 as the record date to ascertain the name of the eligible shareholders/ beneficial owners of the equity shares of the company to whom the aforesaid interim dividend shall be payable,” it said in the exchange filing.
Furthermore, the company board approved premature redemption of 1,79,22,540 – 0.0001% cumulative redeemable non-convertible preference shares of the company out of the profits of the company. Due to aforesaid premature redemption of preference shares, the paid-up share capital of the company stands reduced from Rs 25,162.44 lakh to Rs 7,239.90 lakh divided into 36,19,94,853 equity shares of Rs 2 each, it said.
Earlier, the shares of Patanjali Foods had witnessed a dip following the Supreme Court’s issuance of a contempt notice to Patanjali Ayurved and its Managing Director, Acharya Balakrishna. The notice was served for allegedly reneging on their commitment to refrain from making “misleading claims” in advertisements for their medicines.
The apex court also imposed restrictions on Patanjali, prohibiting the promotion of products that claim to cure diseases like heart ailments and asthma. The decision came in response to evidence presented by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which included a Patanjali advertisement in The Hindu newspaper and statements made during a press conference, where the company asserted to have completely cured sugar and asthma through yoga.