In the month of July the STI declined 0.6%, with dividends marginally improving the total return to a decline of 0.2%. This brought the STI’s total return for the first seven months of 2019 to 10.3%.
For the month of July, 23 stocks primary-listed on SGX repurchased more than 30 million shares with a total consideration of S$42 million. This was down from S$55 million in June 2019 and down from S$109 million in July 2018.
Buyback consideration was led by OCBC, Keppel REIT and SPH. The current mandate has seen OCBC buy back 0.155% of its shares as of 31 July. The previous year mandate saw OCBC buy back 0.378% of its shares.
Total share buyback consideration for the month of July 2019 totalled S$41.6 million. There were 23 SGX-listed stocks that reported buybacks of their SGX-listings over the month, buying back a total of 32.8 million shares or units.
The S$41.6 million in buyback consideration was less than the buyback consideration of S$55.1 million filed in June 2019 and also less than the average total monthly consideration of S$54 million over the preceding six months.
Last month, the Straits Times Index (“STI”) declined 0.6%, with dividends marginally improving the total return to a decline of 0.2%. This took the STI’s total return for the first seven months of 2019 to 10.3%. This was in-line with the region with the FTSE All-Share ASEAN Index which gained 10.8% and the FTSE Asia Pacific Index which gained 9.9%.
Singapore stocks began July on a note of optimism for trade talks following the G20 Summit, however, the continued USD strength capped regional gains, with the STI generating a marginal decline for the month, in-line with the FTSE All-Share ASEAN Index
The month of July also saw institutions book some profit in the REIT Sector, which saw Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Commercial Trust and CapitaLand Mall Trust, which are top 30 stocks by market capitalisation, rank top 10 stocks by turnover throughout July.
Multiple Stocks Commenced New Mandates Commenced in July 2019
The table below summarises the buyback considerations in July 2019. The table is sorted by the value of the total consideration amount for the month, which combines the amount of shares or units purchased and the purchasing price of the transactions. The seven stocks that commenced new mandates are highlighted in Bold.
| Stocks | Number of Shares/units Authorised for Purchase in Current Mandate |
Total Number of Shares/units Purchased in June 2019 |
Total Buyback Consideration in June 2019 (including stamp duties, clearing changes etc.) paid or payable for the shares S$ |
Cumulative Number of Shares/units purchased in Mandate to date* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVERSEA-CHINESE BANKING CORPORATION | 212,257,935 | 1,550,000 | $17,792,147 | 6,580,000 |
| KEPPEL REIT | 170,210,715 | 7,850,700 | $9,775,293 | 17,591,400 |
| SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS | 159,698,243 | 2,000,000 | $4,481,355 | 2,000,000 |
| OLAM INTERNATIONAL | 159,528,593 | 1,707,200 | $3,397,666 | 4,255,100 |
| BOUSTEAD SINGAPORE | 48,968,653 | 1,687,100 | $1,313,355 | 1,687,100 |
| GLOBAL INVESTMENTS | 168,741,864 | 8,352,500 | $1,148,964 | 32,667,800 |
| THE STRAITS TRADING COMPANY | 40,767,817 | 420,000 | $976,932 | 512,400 |
| DUTY FREE INTERNATIONAL | 120,550,039 | 3,342,100 | $604,366 | 3,342,100 |
| VENTURE CORPORATION | 14,401,278 | 40,000 | $596,890 | 40,000 |
| STAMFORD LAND CORPORATION | 86,408,798 | 1,007,200 | $489,592 | 44,353,900 |
| CDW HOLDING | 22,724,200 | 1,583,100 | $303,125 | 2,224,900 |
| KSH HOLDINGS | 56,973,564 | 500,000 | $216,627 | 1,600,000 |
| SINGAPORE SHIPPING CORPORATION | 43,701,979 | 646,200 | $187,781 | 12,842,900 |
| TUAN SING HOLDINGS | 118,620,496 | 180,000 | $64,509 | 2,975,000 |
| TREK 2000 INTERNATIONAL | 32,002,002 | 550,200 | $51,059 | 555,200 |
| JAPFA | 186,466,879 | 100,000 | $50,788 | 1,012,700 |
| STRACO CORPORATION | 86,411,428 | 62,500 | $48,118 | 62,500 |
| BROADWAY INDUSTRIAL GROUP | 46,900,606 | 992,000 | $42,411 | 992,000 |
| EUROSPORTS GLOBAL | 26,500,000 | 107,000 | $18,726 | 2,798,400 |
| KIMLY | 115,489,763 | 64,000 | $15,449 | 5,714,700 |
| GOODLAND GROUP | 36,059,491 | 55,000 | $10,715 | 385,000 |
| GLOBAL PALM RESOURCES HOLDINGS | 19,600,350 | 15,000 | $3,188 | 105,200 |
| CHEUNG WOH TECHNOLOGIES | 30,189,290 | 10,000 | $1,293 | 10,000 |
| Total | 32,821,800 | $41,590,347 |
* Percentage of company’s issued shares excluding treasury shares as at the date of the share buyback resolutions.
Source: SGX My Gateway (Data as of 31 July 2019).
Please note June total buyback consideration was S$55,082,808, not $55,135,597 as originally reported. The discrepancy was due to the inclusion of buybacks for Straco Corporation and Global Investments on 1 July included within the June report.
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.
