Share buyback value halved to $14.9m in May

ST Engineering led the pack as it bought back 2 million shares for $6.31m.

Total share buyback consideration more than halved to $14.9m in May from $36.3m in April and $501.5m in March, according to data from SGX. This figure is also much lower compared to the $123m buyback consideration recorded in May 2019.

However, the total consideration of share buybacks of $650m in 2020 YTD has outpaced the $590m recorded in 2019.

ST Engineering led the pack as it bought back 2 million shares, on a new mandate which began on 15 May, for $6.31m. The shares were bought back at an average price of $3.15 apiece. This is followed by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) at about 2.08 million shares for $3.12m.

Rounding up the top three is Global Investments, which bought back the largest number of shares for the month at around 18.48 million for $2.53m. The firm has now bought back 7.8% of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares) on the current mandate, after seeing its share price decline 2.8% over the first five months of 2020 and has also proposed its renewal of the share buyback mandate in its annual general meeting on 19 June.

Singtel’s buyback consideration in May came fourth at $1.18m for 463,886 shares. Other mentions are Keppel Corporation, Starhub Hong Fok Corporation and Chuan Hup Holdings.

Overall, a total of 18 primary-listed stocks conducted buybacks in Singapore in May, down from 39 in April and from 65 in March.

Furthermore, SGX added that the Straits Times Index (STI) declined 4.3% in April, to 2,510.75, as its 10-day historical volatility remained between 22% and 14% for the month, ending at 18%.

Dividend distributions in the month of May by heavyweight constituents, such as DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, boosted May’s total return to a decline of 3.3%. This brought the STI’s decline in total return in 2020 YTD to 20.8%, with the FTSE ASEAN All-Share Index declining 19.5%.