• In August 2021, 25 primary-listed stocks on SGX bought back their shares, with a total consideration of S$96.3 million, up from July 2021 that saw 10 stocks buy back their shares for a consideration of S$11.2 million, and up from August 2020, with 18 stocks buying back shares for S$15 million in consideration.
   
• Nanofilm Technologies International commenced its first buybacks in August, buying 4,918,400 shares over four consecutive sessions at an average price of S$4.08, within a price range of S$3.81 and S$4.52. This represented 0.74% of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares) as of the approved date of the buyback mandate on 28 April.
   
• This saw Nanofilm Technologies International join the five stocks that have led the buyback consideration tally for primary-listed Singapore stocks over the first eight months of 2021, which includes Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Wilmar International, Singapore Technologies Engineering and The Hour Glass.

During August 2021, 25 primary-listed stocks on SGX bought back their shares, with a total consideration of S$96.3 million. This compared to a seasonally low 10 primary-listed stocks on SGX buying back their shares in July 2021 with a total consideration of S$11.2 million (click here for more), and 28 primary-listed stocks buying back S$94.0 million in total consideration in June (click here for more).

As discussed here, the 2.4% decline in total return for the STI in August brought its total return over the past eight months to 10.4%. The combined AUM of the SPDR® Straits Times Index ETF and the Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF ended August 2021 at S$2.21 billion, compared to S$2.08 billion at the end of December 2020 and compared to S$1.10 billion at the end of December 2019, with the unit creations and redemptions generating S$951 million of net inflows into the two ETFs over the last 20 months.

The five stocks that led the buyback consideration tally for primary-listed Singapore stocks in the first eight months of 2021 include Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Wilmar International, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Nanofilm Technologies International and The Hour Glass. Together the five stocks have contributed S$360 million, or 76% of the S$475 million total buyback consideration for the past eight months. The S$475 million represented 0.05% of the S$890.5 billion combined market capitalisation of all stocks listed on SGX as of 31 Aug.

Nanofilm Technologies International commenced its first buybacks in August, buying 4,918,400 shares over four sessions at an average price of S$4.08, within a price range of S$3.81 and S$4.52. This represented 0.74% of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares) as of the approved date of the mandate on 28 April. The buybacks were conducted between 16 Aug and 19 Aug, as the share price of Nanofilm Technologies International declined from S$5.97 to S$3.96. The share price then staged a partial rebound to end August at S$4.32. On 18 Aug, the company filed a general announcement addressing market feedback post its 1HFY21 (ended 30 June) results announcement in addition to its management bench strength. From its debut on 29 October 2020, its share price has gained 67.2% through to the 31 Aug close. Since Nanofilm Technologies International reported its 1HFY21 results after the 13 Aug close, the Bloomberg consensus 12M target price on the share price was trimmed by 26% from S$6.28 to S$4.63.

The table below summarises the buyback transactions of the 25 stocks that conducted buybacks in August. 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 (Data as of 31 August 2021)

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 been observed to also pick up amidst market declines that are driven by broader moves on 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.