In the month of August the STI declined 5.9%, with dividends marginally improving the total return to a decline of 5.0%. This brought the STI’s total return for the first eight months of 2019 to 4.8%, while the FTSE ST Mid Cap Index doubled the STI’s gains with a 9.8% total return.
For the month of August, 23 stocks primary-listed on SGX repurchased more than 70 million shares with a total consideration of S$70 million. This was up from S$42 million in July 2019 and down from S$245 million in August 2018.
Buyback consideration was led by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, DBS, ST Engineering, Stamford Land and Keppel REIT. Both Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Stamford Land commenced new buyback mandates, with another five stocks also commencing new mandates.
Total share buyback consideration for the month of August 2019 totaled S$70.1 million, up from S$S$41.6 million in July and greater than the average total monthly consideration of S$57 million over the preceding six months. There were 23 SGX-listed stocks that reported buybacks of their SGX-listings over the month, buying back a total of 71.5 million shares or units.
However, the S$70.1 million in buyback consideration was less than the S$245 million in buyback consideration filed in August 2018, when the STI also declined on trade tensions, with DBS Group Holdings contributing three-fifths of the total consideration in August 2018.
Last month, the Straits Times Index (“STI”) declined 5.9%, with a heavy month for dividend distributions marginally improving the month’s total return to a decline of 5.0%. This was in-line with the region with the Hang Seng Index declining 5.9% in total return and the FTSE ASEAN All-share Index declining 2.4% in total return.
August declines brought the STI’s total return for the first months of 2019 to 4.8%. As highlighted in last night’s SGX My Gateway Report (click here), both the FTSE ST Mid Cap Index and the FTSE ST Small Cap Index outpaced the STI over the first eight months of 2019 with respective total returns of 9.8% and 7.9%.
Seven Stocks Commenced New Mandates Commenced in August 2019
The table below summarises the buyback considerations in August 2019. The table is sorted by the value of the total consideration amount for the month, which combines the amount of shares or units purchased and the purchasing price of the transactions. The seven stocks that commenced new mandates are highlighted in Bold.
| Stocks | Number of Shares/units Authorised for Purchase in Current Mandate |
Total Number of Shares/units Purchased in Aug 2019 |
Total Buyback Consideration in Aug 2019 (including stamp duties, clearing changes etc.) paid or payable for the shares S$ |
Cumulative Number of Shares/units purchased in Mandate to date* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YANGZIJIANG SHIPBUILDING (HOLDINGS) | 394,576,520 | 20,000,000 | $18,469,174 | 20,000,000 |
| DBS GROUP HOLDINGS | 51,165,438 | 550,000 | $13,264,943 | 3,650,000 |
| SINGAPORE TECHNOLOGIES ENGINEERING | 62,432,801 | 2,170,700 | $8,791,595 | 3,270,700 |
| STAMFORD LAND CORPORATION | 81,973,408 | 15,710,800 | $7,618,097 | 15,710,800 |
| KEPPEL REIT MANAGEMENT | 170,210,715 | 5,796,200 | $7,059,740 | 23,387,600 |
| KEPPEL CORPORATION | 36,340,188 | 770,000 | $4,542,518 | 770,000 |
| SIIC ENVIRONMENT HOLDINGS | 260,658,872 | 2,688,000 | $2,275,970 | 3,771,000 |
| HONG FOK CORPORATION | 86,147,124 | 2,293,200 | $1,939,575 | 2,293,200 |
| BOUSTEAD SINGAPORE | 48,968,653 | 1,880,300 | $1,372,393 | 3,567,400 |
| SINGAPORE SHIPPING CORPORATION | 42,417,689 | 4,232,300 | $1,226,972 | 4,555,800 |
| SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS | 159,698,243 | 576,300 | $1,150,699 | 2,576,300 |
| GLOBAL INVESTMENTS | 168,741,864 | 5,130,400 | $704,140 | 37,798,200 |
| REX INTERNATIONAL HOLDING | 129,122,045 | 5,727,300 | $411,224 | 5,727,300 |
| AEM HOLDINGS | 27,096,300 | 300,000 | $324,832 | 1,400,000 |
| RAFFLES MEDICAL GROUP | 179,835,340 | 200,000 | $197,295 | 400,000 |
| TUAN SING HOLDINGS | 118,620,496 | 555,000 | $188,629 | 3,530,000 |
| CHEUNG WOH TECHNOLOGIES | 30,189,290 | 1,026,600 | $143,580 | 1,036,600 |
| HRNETGROUP | 100,581,957 | 222,000 | $126,381 | 222,000 |
| MAXI-CASH FINANCIAL SERVICES CORPORATION | 103,515,605 | 911,000 | $116,437 | 911,000 |
| CDW HOLDING | 22,724,200 | 512,100 | $94,119 | 2,737,000 |
| JAPFA | 186,466,879 | 150,000 | $73,919 | 1,162,700 |
| GRP | 19,370,161 | 130,000 | $25,105 | 1,837,200 |
| TREK 2000 INTERNATIONAL | 32,002,002 | 11,400 | $1,013 | 566,600 |
| Total | 71,543,600 | $70,118,348 |
* 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 August 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. Motivations for share buybacks can include employee compensation plans (such as share option schemes or employee share purchase plans) or long term capital management.
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.
