OREANDA-NEWS. For the first two months of 2015, there were a total of 141,231,410 shares repurchased by 35 stocks, with a total consideration of S\$139.1 million. The total consideration was S\$97.2 million in January, and S\$ 41.9 million in February. As for the month of March, there were a total of 176,045,162 shares repurchased by 31 stocks, with a total consideration of S\$164.8 million.

Source: SGX

Over the first quarter, there were a total of 317,276,572 shares repurchased by 47 stocks, with a total consideration of S\$303.9 million. The total consideration for the period this year is more than double that of last year, which saw a total of 50,919,522 shares purchased with a total consideration of S\$142.1 million. The five stocks with the largest consideration in buybacks over the first quarter this year were Singapore Technologies Engineering, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Genting Singapore PLC, Golden Agri-Resources and SATS. These five stocks made up more than 60% of the total consideration in share buybacks during the period.                                            

Source: SGX

The table below provides specific details of the largest consideration in buybacks (more than S\$1 million) over the last three months. The table is sorted by the total consideration amount from January 2015 to March 2015, which collates the amount of shares purchased and the purchasing price of the shares. The date of the relevant share buyback mandate is also provided 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’ issued shares that have been repurchased under the mandate are also provided.

Name Start Date Mandate Total no of shares purchased: Jan - Mar Total Consideration: Jan - Mar Cum no of shares purchased to date Percent*
SINGAPORE TECHNOLOGIES ENGINEERING 24/04/2014 62,340,211 16,866,000 57,713,573.02 18,900,000 0.61
OVERSEA-CHINESE BANKING CORPORATION 24/04/2014 171,866,257 3,980,000 41,549,875.26 18,366,500 0.53
GENTING SINGAPORE PLC 22/04/2014 1,223,813,684 38,904,200 37,396,375.55 193,251,200 1.58
GOLDEN AGRI-RESOURCES 25/04/2014 1,283,754,855 68,222,400 28,432,880.29 68,222,400 0.53
SATS 23/07/2014 22,448,073 6,913,700 20,888,402.69 19,246,700 1.71
UNITED OVERSEAS BANK 24/04/2014 78,848,717 596,262 13,657,490.27 596,262 0.04
DBS GROUP HOLDINGS 28/04/2014 24,455,964 684,200 13,250,296.31 684,200 0.03
SEMBCORP MARINE 18/02/2015 208,932,201 3,500,000 10,517,910.45 3,900,000 0.19
INDOFOOD AGRI RESOURCES 29/04/2014 141,728,283 13,000,000 9,467,801.53 13,000,000 0.92
HYFLUX 24/04/2014 82,715,198 10,108,300 9,297,444.54 57,654,300 6.97
WING TAI HOLDINGS 28/10/2014 78,775,586 5,095,400 9,009,606.03 7,259,400 0.92
BIOSENSORS INTERNATIONAL GROUP 24/07/2014 169,849,298 10,969,400 7,275,482.73 27,421,400 1.61
SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS 02/12/2014 159,988,429 1,500,000 6,141,596.62 2,750,000 0.17
RAFFLES EDUCATION CORPORATION 27/10/2014 101,620,523 14,176,100 4,823,191.93 13,176,100 1.30
GLOBAL INVACOM GROUP 30/04/2014 23,180,230 11,610,000 4,561,861.67 18,983,000 8.18
SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 16/02/2015 797,178,847 929,710 3,879,794.48 929,710 0.01
PACIFIC CENTURY REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 28/04/2014 304,319,210 12,357,200 3,814,370.30 303,882,200 9.99
COURTS ASIA 30/07/2014 55,573,910 6,743,900 3,092,292.88 18,002,200 3.24
CHIP ENG SENG CORPORATION 25/04/2014 64,203,416 2,400,200 2,339,030.67 16,565,200 2.58
KOH BROTHERS GROUP 30/04/2014 44,143,040 6,546,500 2,090,810.91 25,089,500 5.68
GOODLAND GROUP 29/01/2015 33,645,984 7,151,000 1,998,907.17 4,413,000 1.41
GLOBAL TESTING CORPORATION 28/04/2014 75,741,100 18,477,000 1,630,905.56 38,584,000 5.09
GP INDUSTRIES 30/07/2014 49,629,448 2,158,100 1,396,987.62 8,855,100 1.78
SEMBCORP INDUSTRIES 24/04/2014 35,738,098 300,000 1,266,683.42 3,100,000 0.17
HOTUNG INVESTMENT HLDGS 29/04/2014 101,242,278 7,661,700 1,155,639.49 7,661,700 0.76
TECHNICS OIL & GAS 30/01/2015 23,493,297 1,600,000 1,127,754.69 1,657,000 0.71
USP GROUP 27/02/2015 67,012,023 16,939,400 1,024,438.06 16,939,400 2.53

Source: SGX *percentage of company’s issued shares excluding treasury shares as at the date of the share buy-back resolution

Share Buybacks

Share buyback is a simple strategy where a share issuer repurchases some of its outstanding shares from shareholders through open market transactions. Once shares are bought back, they will be converted into treasury shares, which means they are no longer categorised as shares outstanding. Motivations for share buy-backs include companies trying to align stock valuations with balance sheet objectives or employee compensation changes.

Share buy-back 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.