By Dipo Olowookere
The parent company of Nestle Nigeria Plc, Nestle S.A., has announced its intention to commence a new share buyback program of up to CHF 20 billion as announced on October 17, 2019.
A statement issued by the Switzerland-based organisation said it plans to begin repurchases on or after Friday, January 3, 2020 and should complete this by the end of December 2022.
The statement obtained by Business Post disclosed that the volume of monthly share buybacks will depend on market conditions.
“Should any extraordinary dividend payments or sizeable acquisitions take place during this period, the amount of the share buyback will be reduced accordingly,” the statement said.
This development is coming after Nestle announced the completion of its 20 billion share buyback programme initiated on July 4, 2017. Since July 4, 2017, the company has repurchased 225,186,059 of its shares for a total of CHF 20 billion at an average purchase price per share of CHF 88.82.
A total of 136,160,000 repurchased shares were cancelled by the Annual General Meetings held on April 12, 2018 and on April 11, 2019. As a result, the share capital of Nestle S.A. was reduced to currently CHF 297,600,000.
“The Annual General Meeting 2020 of Nestle S.A. will decide upon the cancellation of the remaining 89,026,059 repurchased shares,” the disclosure from the company added.
Modupe Gbadeyanka