More than 23 million shares were repurchased by 17 companies in July, with total buyback consideration at S$26.7 million. This was down 48.1% from $51.5 million in consideration for June 2017.
The five stocks with the largest buyback consideration value in July included one STI stock. The five stocks were Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC), Cordlife Group, Bumitama Agri, Singapore Post and Duty Free International.
For a fifth consecutive month, OCBC had the highest buyback consideration in the month, taking the total number of shares purchased on the 12-month mandate effective 28 April to 8.2 million.
In the month of July 2017, there were a total of 23,187,500 shares repurchased by 17 companies, with a total consideration of S$26.7 million. Buyback consideration was down 48.1% from the S$51.5 million reported for June 2017.
Buybacks in July 2017 have taken the total share buyback consideration for the 2017 YTD to S$226.8 million. This compares with S$615 million for the first seven months of 2016.
July’s share buyback consideration was down 62.3% YOY from S$70.9 million in July 2016. Over the past 12 months, the STI rallied 16.1% in price, generating a total return of 20.4%.
The five stocks with the largest buyback consideration value last month were Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC), Cordlife Group, Bumitama Agri, Singapore Post and Duty Free International. For a fifth consecutive month, OCBC had the highest buyback consideration in the month, taking the total number of shares purchased on the 12- month mandate effective 28 April to 8.2 million.
As illustrated below, monthly total buyback consideration in July 2017 fell by nearly half compared to the previous month.
Monthly Share Buyback Consideration (S$ Million) & STI Month-End Levels
Source: SGX (data as of 31 July 2017)
Buybacks in July
Share buyback transactions involve share issuers repurchasing some of their outstanding shares from shareholders through the open market. Once the shares are bought back, they will be converted into treasury shares, which means they are no longer categorised as shares outstanding. Other motivations for share buybacks include companies moving to align stock valuations with balance sheet objectives.
The table below summarises the buyback considerations in July 2017. The table is sorted by the value of the total consideration amount, which is the product of the number of shares purchased and the purchase price of the shares.
Name | Start Date | Mandate | Total No. of shares bought in July | Total Consideration: July S$ | Cum No. of Shares Purchased to End of July | Pct* % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp | 28/04/2017 | 209,124,917 | 1,000,000 | 10,699,066 | 8,200,000 | 0.20 |
Cordlife Group | 18/07/2017 | 12,970,475 | 7,000,000 | 6,673,642 | 7,000,000 | 2.70 |
Bumitama Agri | 24/04/2017 | 175,181,214 | 4,192,700 | 3,109,822 | 4,814,200 | 0.28 |
Singapore Post | 14/07/2016 | 216,298,901 | 1,116,600 | 1,519,381 | 3,349,800 | 0.15 |
Duty Free International | 29/06/2017 | 122,850,039 | 4,350,000 | 1,388,223 | 4,350,000 | 0.35 |
Starburst Hldgs | 27/04/2017 | 12,445,470 | 2,986,800 | 1,128,565 | 4,319,400 | 1.74 |
SIA Engineering Company | 22/07/2016 | 22,478,084 | 194,000 | 792,009 | 5,323,900 | 0.47 |
Q & M Dental Group | 27/04/2017 | 79,703,066 | 899,200 | 585,294 | 1,358,900 | 0.17 |
Sarine Technologies | 25/04/2017 | 35,083,784 | 250,000 | 369,799 | 250,000 | 0.07 |
Vibrant Group | 30/08/2016 | 55,378,720 | 450,000 | 176,045 | 5,188,560 | 0.94 |
Tiong Seng Hldgs | 26/04/2017 | 45,962,384 | 456,700 | 134,486 | 2,349,600 | 0.52 |
Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group | 26/04/2017 | 19,216,020 | 53,100 | 55,203 | 145,700 | 0.08 |
Global Palm Resources Hldgs | 25/04/2017 | 19,911,640 | 94,400 | 37,978 | 954,000 | 0.48 |
BBR Hldgs | 21/04/2017 | 30,799,941 | 117,000 | 25,922 | 287,000 | 0.09 |
Boustead Projects | 28/07/2016 | 32,000,000 | 18,000 | 16,250 | 317,800 | 0.10 |
Anchun International Hldgs | 28/04/2017 | 5,050,000 | 5,000 | 1,343 | 5,000 | 0.01 |
PACC Offshore Services Hldgs | 27/04/2017 | 181,382,010 | 4,000 | 1,167 | 123,200 | 0.01 |
Total | 23,187,500 | 26,714,195 |
Source: SGX (data as of 31 July 2017)
*percentage of company’s issued shares excluding treasury shares as at the date of the share buyback resolution.
The date of the relevant share buyback mandate is also provided in the table above, in addition to the amount of shares authorised to be bought back under the mandate. The total number of shares purchased under the mandate and the percentage of the companies that issued shares that have been repurchased under the mandate are also provided.
Share buyback information can be found on the company disclosure page on the SGX website, using the Announcement category and sub-category of Share Buy Back-On Market (click here).