In its seventh annual ‘Dividend and Buyback’ report IiAS has identified 66 companies that can incrementally return Rs. 991 bn to their shareholders. This is based on its estimate of aggregate on-balance-sheet cash and cash equivalents for the BSE 500 constituents of Rs. 29 trillion.

The assessment, based on FY24 financial statements, factors in acquisitions and announced capital expenditure (capex) after the balance sheet date.

Key conclusions of the study

· Top five companies with largest estimated excess cash reserve: HCL Technologies Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, LTIMindtree Limited, Siemens Limited and Sun TV Network Limited.

· Companies with estimated excess cash balance of over Rs. 500.0 per share: Honeywell Automation India Limited, Bosch Limited, ZF Commercial Vehicle Control System India Limited and Abbott India Limited

· Companies with excess cash >75% of their on-balance-sheet cash: Oracle Financial Services Software Limited, ZF Commercial Vehicle Control System India Limited, Sun TV Network Limited, Pfizer Limited, Finolex Cables Limited and Graphite India Limited.

· Companies which can step-up dividend yield by 10% in the absolute: Graphite India Limited, Rites Limited, Sun TV Network Limited, Bharat Dynamics Limited and Finolex Cables Limited.

The full list of 66 companies, together with the methodology is given in the attached report.

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