Displaying items by tag: buyback

Taiwan: Hsing Ta Cement says that it has cancelled a planned repurchase of US$266m-worth of its shares. The purchase was the company’s fourth successive planned transaction of that kind. It retains a total shareholding worth US$114m.

In the second quarter of 2022, Hsing Ta Cement recorded sales revenues of US$100m and a net profit of US$2.23m.

Ireland: CRH bought a further US$300m-worth of its shares between 17 March 2022 and 15 June 2022. The purchases bring the group’s total investment in its on-going share buyback programme to US$3.5bn since May 2018. It will now proceed with a further US$300m buyback, ending on or before 30 September 2022.

On 28 April 2022, CRH’s annual group meeting voted for the group to repurchase a total of 10% of its shares.

Greece: Titan Cement recorded Euro1.71bn in net sales in 2021, up by 6.7% year-on-year from Euro1.61bn in 2020. The company attributed the boost to higher demand and ‘supportive pricing’ in all of its regions. Cement sales volumes were 18.3Mt, up by 7% year-on-year from 17.1Mt. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 4.6% to Euro272m from Euro286m, due to an ‘unprecedented’ second-half costs increase. The group’s net profit was Euro89.6m, compared to Euro1.1m in 2020. During the year, Titan Cement increased the digitisation of its cement production and continued its on-going share buyback programme. Its Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions declined by 4% year-on-year, in line with its 2030 target trajectory.

Titan Cement said “Having already achieved the 2025 targets for energy efficiency and zero waste-to-landfill certification, the group’s attention is now focused on empowering business ecosystems to incorporate sustainability considerations in their decision making. To ensure that key suppliers meet the group’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, Titan Cement developed a sustainable supply chain roadmap and published the first Titan Group Procurement Policy.” In the coming year, the group plans to ‘continue to harness the advantages offered by decarbonisation, digital transformation and business model innovation to benefit our customers, employees, suppliers and communities, aspiring to deliver to society carbon-neutral concrete by 2050.’

Ireland: CRH says that it completed another phase in its on-going share buyback programme on 16 March 2022. The group purchased US$300m-worth of shares, bringing its total cash returned since the beginning of the programme in May 2018 to US$3.2bn. On 17 March 2022, it concluded an agreement to begin the purchase of a further US$300m-worth of its shares by 27 June 2022. The producer instructed investors that any decision in relation to any future buyback programmes will be based on an ongoing assessment of the capital needs of the business and general market conditions.

Germany: HeidelbergCement plans to proceed with its on-going share buyback programme in early 2022 with a second tranche of purchases worth Euro300 – 350m. The group expects to conclude the tranche in mid-2022. It previously finished buying back 2.7% of its shares in December 2021. On 13 January 2021, HeidelbergCement announced that it had retired all shares purchased under this previous tranche.

Ireland: CRH says that it completed a further phase of its share buyback programme in late December 2021 with the acquisition of shares worth US$300m. The figure brings the company’s total investment in its on-going share buyback programme to US$2.9bn since it started in mid-2018. CRH has now launched the next phase of the programme, to continue until March 2022, during which time it plans to acquire a further US$300m-worth of its shares. France-based financier Societe Generale will act as principal for the repurchases on the Euronext Dublin exchange.

Australia: Boral will repurchase up to US$182m of its shares after a string of divestments bolstered the company's balance sheet. It intends to buy back up to 5%, or about 39 million shares, of its issued capital on-market over the next 12 months.

Boral chief executive Mike Kane said that the completion of a number of transactions, including the US$127m sale of its Western Landfill business in Melbourne to Transpacific Industries, had allowed for the share repurchase.

"This buyback reflects Boral's commitment to efficient capital management and delivering improved returns to shareholders," said Kane. "At the same time, we are maintaining flexibility to respond to changes in market conditions and to take advantage of appropriate growth opportunities that may present in the future." Kane had already flagged acquisitions in Asia and North America and said that Boral was too unbalanced towards Australia.

Boral was reportedly considering a sell-off of its building products division, but indicated it would instead look for savings through cost-reduction programs and joint ventures. A brickmaking joint venture with CSR will proceed after receiving approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, with the expectation of savings of between US$5.39 – 7.69m between Boral and CSR.