Hongkong Land has disclosed a fourth round of share buybacks, after announcing plans to spend up to US$500 million for this purpose between now till end of 2022.
The shares bought back will be cancelled, thereby possibly lifting its earnings per share.
On Sept 21, the Hong Kong-based but Singapore-listed developer paid between US$4.36 and US$4.44 for 308,400 shares.
On Sept 20, the company bought back 800,000 shares at between US$4.31 and US$4.50.
On Sept 17, it paid between US$4.48 and US$4.54 for 626,500 shares.
The first buyback was made on Sept 7, when it paid an average of US$4.6712 for 320,000 shares.
Thus far, it has bought back 2,054,900 shares, at prices ranging from US$4.31 to US$4.54.
The share buyback was announced on Sept 6 and will last till Dec 31 2022.
The company has a net asset value of US$14.75 as at June 30, down slightly from US$15.30 as at June 30 2020.
For 1HFY2021 ended June 30, the company, having taken a write down in the fair value of its properties, reported a loss of US$865 million, an improvement from US$1.8 billion in the red from the year earlier period.
Without the writedown, the company’s underlying earnings for the same period would be US$394 million, up 12% y-o-y from US$353 million.
Despite the losses, Hongkong is paying an interim dividend of 6 US cents per share – the same amount paid this time last year.
Hongkong Land shares closed Sept 21 at US$4.40. It was trading at a recent high of US$4.85 following the share buyback announcement.
