In June 2019, 25 primary-listed stocks on SGX repurchased close to 40 million shares with a total consideration of S$55 million. This was down from S$123 million in May 2019 and down from S$174 million in June 2018.
After 13 stocks commenced new buyback mandates in May, seven stocks commenced new buybacks in the month of June 2019: Boustead Singapore, Telechoice International, KSH Holdings, CDW Holding, Goodland Group, Global Palm Resources Holdings and Straco Corporation.
Buyback consideration was led by OCBC & DBS. The current mandate has seen DBS buy back 0.121% of its shares & OCBC buy back 0.118% as of 30 June. The previous year mandate saw DBS buy back 0.478% and OCBC buy back 0.378% of its shares.
Total share buyback consideration for the month of June 2019 totaled S$55.1 million. There were 25 SGX-listed stocks that reported buybacks of their SGX-listings over the month, buying back a total of 37.5 million shares or units.
The S$55.1 million in buyback consideration was less than the buyback consideration of S$123.1 million filed in May 2019 (click here for more) and more similar to the average total monthly consideration of S$58 million over the preceding six months.
Last month, the Straits Times Index (“STI”) recovered 6.5%, retracing much of the ground lost in May which saw a 7.0% decline in total return. As discussed here June’s gains took the STI total return for the first six months of 2019 to 10.5%. This was in-line with the region with the FTSE All-Share ASEAN Index which gained 10.2% and the FTSE Asia Pacific Index which gained 9.6%.
Seven Stocks Commenced New Mandates Commenced in June 2019
The table below summarises the buyback considerations in June 2019. The table is sorted by the value of the total consideration amount for the month, which combines the amount of shares or units purchased and the purchasing price of the transactions. The 7 stocks that commenced new mandates are highlighted in Bold.
| Stocks | Number of Shares/units Authorised for Purchase in Current Mandate |
Total Number of Shares/units Purchased in June 2019 |
Total Buyback Consideration in June 2019 (including stamp duties, clearing changes etc.) paid or payable for the shares S$ |
Cumulative Number of Shares/units purchased in Mandate to date* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVERSEA-CHINESE BANKING CORPORATION | 212,257,935 | 2,250,000 | $24,753,300 | 5,030,000 |
| DBS GROUP HOLDINGS | 51,165,438 | 500,000 | $12,056,286 | 3,100,000 |
| OLAM INTERNATIONAL | 159,528,593 | 2,437,300 | $4,673,113 | 2,547,900 |
| KEPPEL REIT MANAGEMENT | 170,210,715 | 3,350,000 | $4,165,898 | 9,740,700 |
| STAMFORD LAND CORPORATION | 86,408,798 | 5,368,200 | $2,561,500 | 43,346,700 |
| BOUSTEAD SINGAPORE | 49,298,483 | 3,298,300 | $2,544,854 | 3,298,300 |
| GLOBAL INVESTMENTS | 168,741,864 | 12,331,600 | $1,643,505 | 24,610,300 |
| TELECHOICE INTERNATIONAL | 45,438,718 | 2,600,000 | $573,952 | 2,600,000 |
| KSH HOLDINGS | 56,973,564 | 1,100,000 | $468,220 | 1,100,000 |
| SINGAPORE EXCHANGE | 107,164,240 | 31,900 | $235,291 | 910,748 |
| SINGAPORE SHIPPING CORPORATION | 43,701,979 | 698,400 | $200,179 | 12,520,200 |
| AEM HOLDINGS | 27,096,300 | 200,000 | $185,124 | 1,100,000 |
| TUAN SING HOLDINGS | 118,620,496 | 480,000 | $172,237 | 2,795,000 |
| KOUFU GROUP | 55,516,300 | 249,300 | $170,066 | 349,300 |
| JUMBO GROUP | 64,109,130 | 411,000 | $154,196 | 503,300 |
| GRP | 19,370,161 | 763,000 | $153,319 | 1,707,200 |
| CDW HOLDING | 22,724,200 | 641,800 | $117,687 | 641,800 |
| RAFFLES MEDICAL GROUP | 179,835,340 | 100,000 | $101,151 | 200,000 |
| GOODLAND GROUP | 36,059,491 | 330,000 | $63,307 | 330,000 |
| NORDIC GROUP | 39,251,910 | 138,500 | $39,865 | 615,600 |
| THE STRAITS TRADING COMPANY | 40,767,817 | 16,800 | $36,588 | 92,400 |
| JAPFA | 186,466,879 | 57,200 | $29,051 | 912,700 |
| GLOBAL PALM RESOURCES HOLDINGS | 19,600,350 | 90,200 | $18,929 | 90,200 |
| STRACO CORPORATION | 86,411,428 | 17,000 | $12,932 | 17,000 |
| CHEUNG WOH TECHNOLOGIES | 30,221,180 | 40,000 | $5,045 | 318,900 |
| Total | 37,500,500 | $55,135,597 |
* Percentage of company’s issued shares excluding treasury shares as at the date of the share buyback resolutions.
Source: SGX May Gateway (Data as of 30 June 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. 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.
