• In 1Q24, 50 SGX primary-listed companies bought back shares by way of market acquisitions with a combined consideration of ~S$230 million. This followed ~40 primary-listed companies buying back shares with a consideration totalling ~S$110 million in 1Q23. This excludes buybacks from secondary-listed companies and S-REITs.
   
• STI stocks, CapitaLand Investment and City Developments, led the primary-listed buyback consideration tally in 1Q24. CapitaLand Investment bought back 31.2 million shares at an average price of S$2.96 in 1Q24 and City Developments bought back 6.7 million shares at an average price of S$5.91 per share.
   
• Yangzijiang Financial Holding bought back 84.5 million shares in 1Q24 at an average price of S$0.32 per share. This brought its buybacks on the current mandate to 4.37% of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares). The Group maintains it considers the amount of surplus cash available, its share price level, and prevailing market conditions, when conducting buybacks.
   

In 1Q24, 50 SGX primary-listed companies bought back shares by way of market acquisitions, with a consideration totaling S$232 million. This represented 0.04% of the total market capitalisation of all primary-listed stocks on Singapore Exchange as of the end of March. Share buybacks by way of market acquisitions are ‘on-market’, that is the company buys the shares from any willing seller at prevailing market value.

Over the quarter, the STI generated a flat total return. While the broad Singapore stock market booked S$1.15 billion of net institutional outflow, for every stock that booked net institutional outflow, close to one stock booked net institutional inflow. Together, the Bank Sector and the S-REIT Sector contributed S$0.76 billion of the net institutional outflow. The flat STI total return also saw S$97 million in net inflows to both STI tracking ETFs, the SPDR STI ETF (ES3) and NikkoAM STI ETF (G3B). March also marked the seventh consecutive month of the STI ETFs booking combined net inflows.

STI stocks, CapitaLand Investment and City Developments both led the primary-listed buyback consideration tally in 1Q24. Other STI stocks that conducted buybacks in 1Q24 included Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Venture Corporation, Singapore Exchange,

Singapore Technologies Engineering and Singapore Airlines. 

• CapitaLand Investment bought back 31.2 million shares at an average price of S$2.96 in 1Q24. According to the SGX Stock Screener, the global real estate investment manager with a strong Asia presence maintains a Refinitiv consensus estimates target price of S$3.758. Its FY23 Annual Report can be read here.
   
• City Developments bought back 6.7 million shares at an average price of S$5.91 per share. According to the SGX Stock Screener, the global property and hotel conglomerate maintains a Refinitiv consensus estimates target price of S$7.632. City Developments also completed the buyback of the maximum allowable amount of Preference Shares in December 2023. The Group maintains that with the cancellation of the purchased Preference Shares, the Group was able to reduce the finance cost pertaining to the coupon payment obligation for these shares. Its FY23 Annual Report can be read here.
   

The 1Q24 buyback activity compared to 41 primary-listed companies conducting S$111 million in buyback consideration in 1Q23. For the full 2023, 69 SGX primary-listed companies bought back shares by way of market acquisitions with a consideration totaling S$743 million. Motivations for share buybacks can include employee compensation plans (such as share option schemes or employee share purchase plans) or long-term capital management.

The 15 stocks with the highest buyback consideration by way of market acquisition in 1Q24 are tabled below. 

Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv (Data as of 31 March 2024).

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).

Yangzijiang Financial Holding bought back 84.5 million shares in 1Q24. This brought its buybacks on the current mandate to 4.37 per cent of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares), as the 21 April 2023 share buyback mandate date. These buybacks were conducted between 11 May 2023 and 28 March 2024. The preceding mandate saw Yangzijiang Financial Holding buy back 7.00 per cent of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares). The asset manager and investment arm of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) considers its share buybacks an effective method of returning value to shareholders and will continue doing so when circumstances permit. The Group added that factors it takes into consideration when engaging in share buybacks, include the amount of surplus cash available, its share price level, and prevailing market conditions. The FY23 Annual Report can be read here.

The table below, details another 15 stocks with current share buyback mandates that that had bought back the highest percentage of their issued shares (excluding treasury shares) as of their respective mandate date.

Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv (Data as of 31 March 2024).

Secondary-listed Jardine Matheson Holdings also acquired 940,300 shares over 1Q24. The Group maintains it seeks to balance the investments in with capital allocations on M&A for new businesses, and with its Refinitiv consensus estimates target price at US$45.95 as of 9 April. Jumbo Group also acquired 37,522,422 shares or 5.85% of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares) on 11 March by way of a market acquisition on an equal access scheme, as opposed to the aforementioned method of on-market acquisitions.

On the REIT front, Digital Core REIT Management bought back 7,908,700 units of Digital Core REIT, bringing the cumulative number of units purchased on the current mandate to 14,394,400 units or 1.28% of its issued units as of the start of the current buyback mandate. ESR-LOGOS Funds Management also bought back 11,420,600 units of ESR-LOGOS REIT, bringing the cumulative number of units purchased on the current mandate to 21,118,100 units or 0.29% of its issued units as of the start of the current buyback mandate.

The full tally of buyback considerations for the primary-listed companies in Singapore for 1Q24 is tabled below.

Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv (Data as of 31 March 2024).

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