In Feb 2019, the STI gained 0.7% and 15 SGX primary-listed stocks repurchased 20 million shares with total consideration of S$32 million. This was up from S$26 million in Jan 2019 and down year-on-year from S$134 million in Feb 2018.
Four stocks commenced new buyback mandates in the month of Feb 2019: Singtel, EuroSports Global, Starburst Holdings & Ecowise Holdings. Relative to outstanding shares, EuroSports Global bought back 0.27% of its shares during the month.
The Feb 2019 buyback consideration was led by ST Engineering, OCBC and Keppel REIT Management. ST Engineering accounted for almost half the S$32 million consideration, buying back approx. 4 million shares in a price range of S$3.66 to S$3.75.
Total share buyback consideration for the month of February 2019 totaled S$31.9 million.
There were 15 SGX-listed stocks that reported buybacks of their SGX-listings over the month, buying back a total of 20.1 million in shares or units. The S$31.9 million in buyback consideration was one-fifth higher than the buyback consideration of S$26.4 million filed in January 2019 (click here for more).
Last month, the Straits Times Index (“STI”) gained 0.7%, from 3,190.17 at the end of January to 3,212.69 at the end of February. As detailed in the FTSE Asia Monthly Report (click here) Singapore’s Mid Cap stocks continued to be amongst the best performers in February within the FTSE ST Index Series, gaining 1.8% over the month. The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index generated a total return of 9.3% over the first two months of 2019.
As best practice, companies should refrain from buying back their shares during the two weeks immediately before its quarterly financial statements and one month immediately before the full-year financial statements.
Four New Mandates Commenced in February 2019
Singapore Telecommunications (“Singtel”) commenced its share buyback mandate on 15 February buying back 370,672 shares for a consideration of S$1.11 million. Its previous buyback was conducted on the preceding year’s mandate on 25 May 2018.
EuroSports Global commenced its share buyback mandate which had been approved on 27 July 2018. Over a series of six transactions in February, EuroSports Global bought back 0.27% of its issued shares (the number of issued excluding treasury shares as of 27 July 2018). EuroSports Global also continued to conduct buybacks during the first two sessions of March.
ecoWise Holdings commenced its buyback mandate approved back on 28 February 2018, with the repurchasing of 500,000 shares on 19 February. ecoWise Holdings held its FY18 Annual General Meeting on 28 February 2019 with the resolution proposing the renewal of the share buyback mandate approved.
Starburst Holdings commenced a new buyback mandate on 27 February, buying back 70,600 shares. The mandate had been approved back on 26 April 2018. The preceding buyback mandate had seen Starburst Holdings buy back 3.3 per cent of its outstanding shares over 28 transactions.
The table below summarises the buyback considerations in February 2019. The table is sorted by the value of the total consideration amount for the month, which combines the amount of shares or units purchased and the purchasing price of the transactions.
| Company/Trust | No. of Shares/units Authorised for Purchase in Current Mandate |
Total No. of Shares/units Purchased in Feb 2019 |
Total Buyback Consideration in Feb 2019 (including stamp duties, clearing changes etc.) paid or payable for the shares S$ |
Cumulative No. of Shares/units purchased in Mandate to date* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SINGAPORE TECHNOLOGIES ENGINEERING | 62,407,292 | 4,100,900 | 15,216,175 | 5,422,300 |
| OVERSEA-CHINESE BANKING CORPORATION | 209,128,622 | 600,000 | 6,719,213 | 10,825,000 |
| KEPPEL REIT MANAGEMENT | 169,473,366 | 3,250,000 | 3,932,123 | 34,027,800 |
| SINGAPORE POST | 226,352,024 | 1,590,000 | 1,559,791 | 12,720,000 |
| STARHUB | 173,039,085 | 940,000 | 1,509,335 | 1,431,353 |
| SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS | 816,457,915 | 370,672 | 1,113,888 | 370,672 |
| STAMFORD LAND CORPORATION | 86,408,798 | 1,299,700 | 637,840 | 35,115,200 |
| GLOBAL INVESTMENTS | 169,629,503 | 4,301,500 | 542,284 | 6,812,800 |
| SINGAPORE SHIPPING CORPORATION | 43,701,979 | 992,000 | 286,211 | 8,988,800 |
| EUROSPORTS GLOBAL | 26,500,000 | 715,000 | 134,324 | 715,000 |
| BUMITAMA AGRI | 173,982,394 | 200,000 | 134,132 | 1,567,200 |
| SINGHAIYI GROUP | 428,511,187 | 1,193,000 | 111,577 | 64,367,900 |
| STARBURST HOLDINGS | 12,344,611 | 70,600 | 27,073 | 70,600 |
| ECOWISE HOLDINGS | 95,748,302 | 500,000 | 15,035 | 500,000 |
| JAPAN FOODS HOLDING | 17,408,790 | 12,500 | 5,045 | 485,000 |
| Total | 20,135,872 | 31,944,046 |
Source: SGX (Data as of 28 February 2019)
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.
