• In Feb, 21 primary-listed stocks on SGX bought back their shares with a combined S$114.0 million in consideration, up from the S$52.9 million filed for January. Seasonally, the consideration also doubled the S$49.7 million in consideration filed for February 2021.
   
• The Feb buyback consideration tally was led by Keppel Corp, with the conglomerate buying back S$88 million of its shares during the month at an average price of S$5.99 per share. The stock gained 6% in Feb, and as of 28 Feb, Keppel Corp had bought back 0.86% of its respective issued shares (excl. treasury shares) on the current buyback mandate.
   
• Raffles Medical bought back 4 million shares in Feb, at an average price of S$1.19 per share between 23 Feb and 28 Feb after reporting FY21 (ended 31 Dec) revenue increased 27.4% YoY on 21 Feb. As of 28 Feb, Raffles Medical had bought back 0.39% of its respective issued shares (excl. treasury shares) on the current buyback mandate.

In February, 21 primary-listed stocks on SGX bought back their shares that totaled S$114.0 million in consideration, up from the S$52.9 million in consideration filed for January (click here for more). On a seasonal basis, the consideration also doubled the S$49.7 million in consideration filed for February 2021 (click here for more).  The S$114.0 million in buyback consideration represented 0.02% of the total market value of all primary-listed stocks listed on SGX as of the end of the end of February. Of the S$899.1 billion in total market capitalisation for all stocks listed on SGX at the end of February, S$662.8 billion was represented by primary-listed stocks. Secondary-listings Jardine Matheson Holdings and Hongkong Land also continued to conduct share buybacks in February.

During the month of February, the Straits Times Index (“STI”) declined 0.2% to 3,242.24 as the FTSE Asia Pacific Index declined 0.6% in SGD terms. Singapore stocks were recipient to S$480 million of net institutional inflow in February, following on from more than S$800 million in net institutional inflows in January. The combined AUM of the SPDR® Straits Times Index ETF and the Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF ended February 2022 at S$2.21 billion, compared to S$2.23 billion at the end of December 2021, with the unit creations and redemptions generating S$70 million of net outflows from the two ETFs year to date. This compared to S$63 million of inflows during first 2 months of 2021.

The February buyback consideration tally was led by Keppel Corporation, Singapore Telecommunications, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Raffles Medical Group and Singapore Exchange. As of 28 Feb, Keppel Corporation had bought back 0.86% of its respective issued shares (excl. treasury shares) on the current buyback mandate. On 27 January, Keppel Corporation announced it had established a S$500 million Share Buyback Programme, pursuant to the Share Purchase Mandate granted by its shareholders at the Company’s previous AGM. The Company noted that shares repurchased will be held as treasury shares which will be used in part for the annual vesting of employee share plans, but also as possible currency for future M&A activities. The company reports its FY21 net profit surged to a 6-year high back on 27 Jan, and the stock also gained 6.0% in February, ranking as the sixth strongest STI stock for the month. Keppel Corporation bought back S$88 million of its shares in February at an average price of S$5.99 per share.

The table below summarises the buyback transactions of the 21 primary-listed stocks that conducted buybacks in February. The table is sorted by the value of the total consideration amount for the month, which combines the amount of shares or units purchased and the purchasing price of the transactions. 

 Source: SGX, Refinitiv, Bloomberg (Data as of 28 Feb 2022)

Share buyback transactions involve share issuers repurchasing some of their outstanding shares from shareholders through the open market. Once the shares are bought back, they can be converted into treasury shares, which means they are no longer categorised as shares outstanding. Motivations for share buybacks can include employee compensation plans (such as share option schemes or employee share purchase plans) or long term capital management. Buybacks have also been observed to broadly pick up amidst market declines that are driven by international macroeconomic developments.

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 (click here). As best practice, companies should refrain from buying back their shares during the two weeks immediately before semi-annual financial statements and one month immediately before the full-year financial statements.