OREANDA-NEWS. Share buybacks refer to share issuer repurchasing some of their outstanding shares from shareholders through open market transactions. 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.

In the month of July 2016, there were a total of 52,182,400 shares repurchased by 31 stocks, with a total consideration of S$70,856,210.  Buybacks in July 2016 have taken the total share buyback consideration for the 2016 year through to the end of July to S$615 million. The five stocks with the largest buyback consideration value in July were Global Logistic Properties, Olam International, Wilmar International, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Silverlake Axis.  Of the five, Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation, Global Logistic Properties and Olam International  respectively also maintained the largest , second largest and fifth largest buyback considerations in the first half of 2016.

Buyback consideration in July 2016 was down 13% from the $82 million in buyback consideration reported for July 2015 and down from 67% from the S$218 million reported for June 2016.  The decline from June 2016 buyback activity coincided with the beginning of the June quarter earnings/reporting season and consequential blackout periods for companies buying back their own shares. 

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.

The table below summarises the buyback considerations in July 2016. The table is sort by the value of the total consideration amount, 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 that issued shares that have been repurchased under the mandate are also provided.