Global Investments has been actively buying back its shares on the open market this past month. The most recent was on April 26 when the listed fund acquired 500,000 shares at an average of 10.6 cents each. This brings the total bought back under the current mandate to nearly 50.1 million shares, equivalent to 3.1859% of the total share base.
Earlier in April, it had bought back shares on April 20, 21, 24, and 25. On each of these days, the volume of shares bought back ranged between 300,000 and 500,000 shares. Global Investments paid an average daily price of between 10.43 cents and 10.597 cents.
Boon Swan Foo, Global Investments’ chairman, and single-largest shareholder with holdings of more than 19%, recently increased his stake. Boon, a former CEO of ST Engineering, chose to receive his dividends in scrip instead of cash. With the additional 9.89 million shares, Boon now holds nearly 306.5 million shares.
As at March 31, the company’s net asset value per share was 16.01 cents, down 2.5% from Dec 31, 2022. On March 20, Global Investments disclosed that it holds Additional Tier 1 perpetual bonds issued by Credit Suisse that is equivalent to 2.33% of its NAV as at Dec 31, 2022.
Independent directors
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Richard Ong Beng Chye, an independent director of Geo Energy Resources, has halved his holdings in the Indonesia-based coal miner. On April 21, Ong sold 900,000 shares for $297,000, or 33 cents each, on the open market. The sale leaves him with one million shares, down from 1.9 million shares previously.
Geo Energy shares will go ex-dividend on May 9. By selling those shares before that, Ong will be foregoing some $36,000 worth of dividends, based on the 4 cents per share dividend the company has declared.
Driven by higher selling prices of coal, amid a global commodities boom, Geo Energy increased its revenue to a record of US$733.5 million ($979.3 million) for FY2022 ended Dec 31, 2022, up 14% over the preceding FY2021.
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However, because of withholding taxes of some US$15.3 million, up from just US$1.6 million for FY2021, plus loss allowance of US$15.2 million, up from US$6.5 million recorded in FY2021, the company’s earnings for FY2022 fell 9% to US$161.6 million from US$177.9 million in FY2021.
“Energy prices increased sharply, and demand remained strong throughout 2022,” notes Charles Antonny Melati, Geo Energy’s executive chairman and CEO.
Meanwhile, Geo Energy has been making occasional share buybacks. The most recent was on March 16, when the company acquired 650,000 shares on the open market at between 29 and 30 cents. This brings the total number of shares bought back under the current mandate to just over 12.23 million shares.
In contrast to Ong, another independent director at another company loaded up on his holdings just ahead of the shares going ex-dividend. Chew Sutat, lead independent director of Yangzijiang Financial Holding, on April 24 acquired 112,000 shares on the open market for $43,120 or 38.5 cents each. This brings his total holdings from 888,000 shares to one million shares, equivalent to 0.027% of the company’s total share base.
Yangzijiang Financial, which was spun off Yangzijiang Shipbuilding last April, plans to pay a dividend of 1.8 cents for FY2022. The shares will go ex-dividend on May 10 and shareholders will receive their payout on May 25.
On March 1, Yangzijiang Financial reported earnings of $162 million for FY2022 ended December 2022, down 50% over FY2021. Total income in the same period was down 20% y-o-y to $306.2 million because of lower interest and dividend income.
The finance and investment firm is trying to diversify its lending and investing activities from within China to outside China. “As China reopens its borders, coupled with the government’s support measures for the domestic property sector, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we are cautiously optimistic of our prospects for 2023,” says executive chairman Ren Yuanlin in his earnings commentary.
