In November, 29 SGX-listed stocks repurchased 40 million shares for a total consideration of S$109 million. This was up from S$60 million in buyback consideration in October, and S$39 million in November 2017.
This brought the total buyback consideration over the first 11 months of 2018 to SS$1.45 billion, which is more than three times the total buyback consideration in 2017 that totalled S$426 million.
The three banks - DBS, OCBC and UOB made up four-fifths or S$88 million of the S$109 million in total buyback consideration for November. Last week marked 50 years since the largest capitalised of the three, DBS, was quoted for trading on the stock market.
Total share buyback consideration for the month of November 2018 totaled S$108.8 million.
A total of 29 SGX-listed stocks reported buybacks on their SGX-listings over the month, buying back a total of 39.0 million in shares or units. The S$108.8 million in buyback consideration was almost double the total buyback consideration of S$59.9 million in October 2018 (click here for more).
During the month of November, the STI gained 3.3%, from to 3,018.8 to 3,117.6, which was almost double the gain of the FTSE Asia Pacific Index which gained 1.7% in SGD terms.
The three banks - is DBS Group Holdings (DBS), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB) accounted for four-fifths or S$88 million of the S$109 million in total buyback consideration in November.
Last week marked 50 years since the largest capitalised of the three banks, DBS was quoted for trading on the stock market. As detailed here, shares of DBS, formerly known as the Development Bank of Singapore received official quotation on the Stock Exchange of Malaysia and Singapore on 29 November 1968. For their 9MFY18 (ending 30 Sep) DBS, OCBC & UOB have averaged 25% YoY net profit growth. Combined, the three banks reported total income (pre allowances, expenses & taxes) of S$24.2 billion for the 9MFY18, up from S$22.1 billion in 9MFY17. For more details click here.
The table below summarises the buyback considerations in November 2018. The table is sorted by the value of the total consideration amount for the month, which combines the amount of shares or units purchased and the purchasing price of the transactions.
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.
