In the month of January 2018, there were 20.1 million shares repurchased by 16 companies, with a total consideration of S$53.5 million. Buyback consideration was up from S$43 million in Dec 2017, and up from S$20 million in January 2017.
The five stocks with the largest buyback consideration value last month were Keppel Corp, OCBC, Silverlake Axis, Singapore Post and Perennial Real Estate, which made up as much as 98% of the S$53.5 million in total consideration.
Keppel Corp reported its FY17 results on 25 January. The Conglomerate began carrying out its share buyback mandate the following session and contributed S$22.9 million to the buyback tally for January. Keppel Corp’s mandate had been approved back in April 2017.
For the month of January 2018, there were 20.1 million shares repurchased by 16 companies, with a total consideration of S$53.5 million. Buyback consideration was up 26% from the S$42.9 million reported for December 2017 and up 170% from January 2017.
The total share buyback consideration of $53.5 million in January was the highest monthly tally since September 2017. Among the stocks that bought back their shares, Keppel Corp registered the highest buyback consideration of $22.9 million. Although the current 12 month buyback mandate for Keppel Corp dates back to 21 April 2017, Keppel Corp only started carrying out the mandate on 26 January. Keppel Corp reported its FY17 results the following the preceding 25 January session (click here). Keppel Corp’s share price rallied 18.0% in January.
The Straits Times Index (STI) ended January at 3534, bringing the total return for the month to 4.3%, building on the 22% total return seen in 2017. The Materials and Energy Sectors were the strongest of the sectors over the month of January (click here for more).
As illustrated below, the monthly total buyback consideration for January 2018 was also the second highest consideration of the past 12 months. For information on December 2017 buybacks click here.
Monthly Share Buyback Consideration (S$ Million) & STI Month-End Levels
Source: SGX My Gateway (Data as of 31 January 2018)
Following Keppel Corp, OCBC reported the second highest share buyback consideration of $20.5 million for the month of January, taking the total number of shares to date purchased its current mandate to 18,960,000.
The table below summarises the buyback considerations in January 2018. The table is sorted by the value of the total consideration amount for the month, which combines the amount of shares purchased and the purchasing price of the shares.
| Name | Start Date | Mandate | Total No. of Shares Purchased Jan 2018 |
Total Consideration for Jan. $ |
Cum No. of Shares Purchased to End of Jan 2018 |
* Pct % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keppel Corporation | 21/04/2017 | 90,882,201 | 2,618,700 | 22,910,372.67 | 2,618,700 | 0.144 |
| Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp | 28/04/2017 | 209,124,917 | 1,600,000 | 20,509,043.22 | 18,960,000 | 0.453 |
| Silverlake Axis | 26/10/2017 | 264,661,760 | 12,619,400 | 7,311,485.56 | 157,224,600 | 5.940 |
| Singapore Post | 20/07/2017 | 227,146,452 | 1,116,600 | 1,390,366.93 | 6,699,600 | 0.295 |
| Perennial Real Estate Hldgs | 28/04/2017 | 82,087,918 | 400,000 | 352,487.22 | 1,569,300 | 0.094 |
| S i2i | 08/01/2017 | 1,371,245 | 118,195 | 332,275.04 | 1,350,695 | 9.850 |
| AEM Hldgs | 27/04/2017 | 6,501,336 | 50,000 | 168,932.73 | 668,400 | 1.021 |
| Boustead Singapore | 27/07/2017 | 52,229,843 | 190,000 | 157,068.68 | 388,100 | 0.743 |
| G. K. Goh Hldgs | 24/04/2017 | 32,668,653 | 118,700 | 129,715.25 | 320,900 | 0.100 |
| USP Group | 19/10/2017 | 9,092,200 | 372,100 | 68,990.09 | 634,600 | 0.698 |
| AnnAik | 25/04/2017 | 24,879,490 | 336,000 | 41,633.14 | 1,999,000 | 0.800 |
| Tiong Seng Hldgs | 26/04/2017 | 45,962,384 | 107,100 | 41,304.10 | 5,465,900 | 1.205 |
| Q & M Dental Group | 27/04/2017 | 79,703,066 | 48,000 | 29,207.79 | 2,328,500 | 0.290 |
| Mun Siong Engineering | 20/04/2017 | 57,143,710 | 400,000 | 27,570.37 | 2,038,000 | 0.357 |
| Boustead Projects | 27/07/2017 | 31,968,220 | 27,700 | 24,425.57 | 87,700 | 0.027 |
| Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group | 26/04/2017 | 19,216,020 | 8,000 | 7,378.91 | 316,500 | 0.160 |
| Grand Total | 20,130,495 | 53,502,257.27 |
Source: SGX (data as of 31 January 2018)
*percentage of company’s issued shares excluding treasury shares as at the date of the share buyback resolution
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 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.
