Trading in Brightcom shares will remain suspended for 15 days.
Retail investors in the Brightcom Group, those with share capital of less than ₹2 lakh, went up by 10x between March 2021 to 2024.
"I held Brightcom shares till ₹115, even got bonus shares, but didn't sell.
Before trading was suspended, shares of Brightcom Group were down to ₹9.38.
A stretch in June 2022 saw Brightcom Group shares make 13 consecutive lower circuits of 5%.
NSE
Brightcom Group Shareholding March 2024 Promoters 18.38% Two Vanguard Group Funds 2.20% LGOF Global Opportunities Fund 2.50% Shankar Sharma 1.14% Retail 41.70%
Quarter Retail Investors In Brightcom Group March 2021 63,310 June 2021 75633 September 2021 1.05 Lk December 2021 2.08 Lakh March 2022 2.64 Lakh June 2022 3.1 Lakh September 2022 3.63 Lakh December 2022 4.03 Lakh March 2023 4.36 Lakh June 2023 4.77 Lakh September 2023 5.31 Lakh December 2023 5.69 Lakh March 2024 6.56 Lakh
What Next For Brightcom And Its Shareholders?
Trading in Brightcom shares will remain suspended for 15 days. At the end of the period, trading will resume in the trade-for-trade segment under the 'Z' category.
Stocks in such categories are only allowed to trade on the first trading day of the week for the next six months.
Traders will have to take delivery of shares under the trade-to-trade category, and the stock can't be bought and sold on the same day.
Within three years, Brightcom has turned from a multibagger to a perfect case study for investor awareness and FOMO (fear of missing out) in stock markets.
Retail investors in the Brightcom Group, those with share capital of less than ₹2 lakh, went up by 10x between March 2021 to 2024. Today, they have no immediate exit in sight."I held Brightcom shares till ₹115, even got bonus shares, but didn't sell. Now, I regret the decision. I am left with 15,000 to 20,000 shares," 35-year-old Samrat (name changed) told the author about his investment in the Brightcom Group shares.Samrat is one of the 6.56 lakh small retail investors stuck with shares of the beleaguered digital marketing firm Brightcom after the National Stock Exchange (NSE) suspended trading in the scrip on Friday, June 14, for non-compliance with the NSE's master circular. Small investors are left holding a bag with more than two out of every five (41.7%) Brightcom stock.And Samrat is not the only one. Another retail investor who wrote to this author said he is stuck with over 2,500 shares of the Brightcom Group, which he purchased at ₹57, while another was stuck with 10,000 shares, which were purchased at ₹47. Before trading was suspended, shares of Brightcom Group were down to ₹9.38. Comparisons with the ad-tech platform Affle India convinced Samrat. "The news of promoters buying shares boosted confidence and resulted in significant upper circuits. Various advisors also recommended the stock as a tip," he added.The company's troubles were apparent in March 2022 when the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) ordered a forensic probe into the alleged lapses in corporate governance in the three years before March 2021 when the company raised nearly ₹870 crore from 82 investors through preferential issues (an easier way of fundraising via the issue of shares to select investors).In March 2021, Brightcom shares traded at ₹5 apiece, and the number of retail shareholders was 63,310. In the next nine months, the stock reached a peak of ₹121 (adjusted for a bonus issue), and the number of small investors tripled to well over 2 lakh.The downfall began soon after. The stock usually traded in binaries—either upper circuits or lower circuits of 5%. A stretch in June 2022 saw Brightcom Group shares make 13 consecutive lower circuits of 5%. Yet, the small investor did not budge. Some chose to "buy the dip," some chose to average in the hopes that someday the fortunes would change, while some just went by the fact that some big market names were investors in this company."When the stock started making lower circuits, we remained hopeful of gains but didn't sell a single stock," he explained.Meanwhile, the value of Affle India's shares kept rising, up over seven and a half times the initial investment in the last five years. In the last year, when Affle India gained 21%, Brightcom shares lost more than two-thirds of their value.However, between December 2023 and March 2024, more than a lakh new investors made a punt on the stock with an uncertain future.
