Shares of two new-age companies — Paytm and Zomato — witnessed selling following reports of Japanese investor SoftBank planning to offload small stakes in them.

Zomato ended in the red on Friday, while Paytm parent One97 Communications saw some volatility after which it closed in positive territory.

The shares of Zomato, the online food delivery platform, finished at Rs 74.34 on the BSE, a drop of 1.03 per cent after falling to the day’s low of Rs 73.90.One97 Communications skidded to an intra-day low of Rs 874 — a fall of 2.12 per cent. However, it recouped these losses and settled at Rs 895.50, a gain of 0.29 per cent over the last close.

Media reports emerged Friday about SoftBank looking to book profits by selling small stakes in One97 Communications and Zomato as their recent rallies have now turned them into profitable bets.

SoftBank may sell shares in the two companies in smaller tranches in the open market and not via block deals. It had paid around Rs 65-70 per share for Zomato and Rs 830-840 for Paytm.

SoftBank held a little over 3.40 per cent in Zomato during the quarter that ended March 31, 2023, while it’s current holding in Paytm stands at 11.17 per cent following a 2.07 per cent sale via open market transactions last month.

Zomato saw its consolidated net loss narrowing to Rs 187.6 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2023 against a net loss of Rs 359.7 crore in the corresponding period of the last year. Its consolidated revenue from operations during the period came in at Rs 2,056 crore against Rs 1,211.8 crore in the year-ago period.

Shares of the food delivery firm have risen nearly 28 per cent in the last month following its better-than-expected results and hopes of a turnaround.

A recent report from Motilal Oswal projected the firm would turn profitable in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025.

Such optimism resulted in its shares not only breaching the IPO price of Rs 76 per share but also hitting a 52-week high of Rs 80.30 on June 12.

Its IPO which came in at a price band of Rs 72-76 per share was open to subscription from July 14-16 2021.

In a letter to the shareholders, Zomato managing director and CEO Deepinder Goyal asserted that the company is confident of achieving profitability for the entire business within the next four quarters.

Zomato is aiming to get there by increasing profits in the food delivery business and reducing losses in the quick commerce (Blinkit) business, he added.

Paytm parent One97 Communications narrowed consolidated loss to Rs 167.5 crore in the fourth quarter, 2023. The company had posted a loss of Rs 762.5 crore in the same period of the last year.