Share buyback considerations hit $36.3m in April

SATS bought back a total of 535,000 shares for $2.93 per share over 1-7 April.

Total share buyback consideration totaled $36.3m in April, down from $501.5m in March but around the same levels as the $35.5m recorded in April 2019, according to a report by SGX.

This brings the total consideration of share buybacks for SGX primary-listed stocks to $635m for the first four months of 2020, up from $590m for the entire year of FY2019.

A total of 38 primary-listed stocks conducted buybacks in Singapore last month, down from 65 in March, but up from 17 stocks in February. Five stocks commenced new buyback mandates in April.

Chief amongst these is SATS, which bought its shares back over five sessions spanning 1 April to 7 April, buying back a total of 535,000 shares at an average price of $2.93 per share. The other four stocks to commence new buybacks include Chuan Hup Holdings, Ellipsiz, Chip Eng Seng Corporation and Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group.

Other notable companies include Global Investments, whose current mandate saw the company buy back 6.67% of its issued shares excluding treasury. The company has seen its share price decline by 9.3% in the first four months of 2020.

Overall, the Straits Times Index (STI) gained 5.8% in April, rising to 2,624.23 as its 10-day historical volatility declined to 18%, from 80% as of end-March. This brought the STI’s decline in total return for the first four months of 2020 to 18.1%.

Of the STI constituents, the Singapore Exchange has been the strongest with 9.9% total return over the first four months of the year. In contrast, SATS saw the biggest decline, with total return plunging 35.2% over the same period of comparison. SATS’ decline over the four months trimmed its 10-year annualised total return to 6.5%.