Infibeam market value tanks over 70% in single day; Courtesy 'One' Whatsapp note

Shares of internet and e-commerce conglomerate Infibeam Avenues slipped down to almost 71 per cent following a Whatsapp message doing the rounds.

This is said to the biggest single-day fall of shares after Satyam Computer Services. (Image: AFP)

Shares of internet and e-commerce conglomerate Infibeam Avenues slipped down to almost 71 per cent following a Whatsapp message doing the rounds that the firm is facing corporate governance issues. “The speculation mounted before a shareholder meeting on Saturday, after a message attributed to Equirus Securities began circulating on WhatsApp,” Bhavin Mehta, an analyst at Dolat Capital Market told news agency Bloomberg. This is said to the biggest single-day fall of shares after Satyam Computer Services which slipped more than 80 per cent in 2009 after the accounting scam took place. The message was sent by an Equirus analyst to some of Infibeam’s clients a couple of months ago which resurfaced on Thursday. This record crash of company’s market value on Friday forced it to make a clarification to exchanges stating that there was no pending information or announcements that may impact its share price. According to the report, WhatsApp message alleged that the company had given interest-free and unsecured loans to its units. On the back of this whole fiasco, Infibeam’s share ended at Rs 58.80 which was a slip of Rs 138.5 or 74. 24 per cent compared to the previous day. After witnessing the crash in its share price, the company in a filing to the BSE said, “All the material information, that have a bearing on the operation/performance of the Company which include all price sensitive information under Regulation 30 of SEBI have always been disclosed by the Company within the stipulated time.” Infibeam operates in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce space. The company claims to add around 1,500 merchants to its network every month with revenue moving 100 per cent annually over the past five years. As per reports, Infibeam posted revenue of Rs 91.34 crore in June, 2018 quarter against Rs 72.7 in the same quarter in 2017.