First Philippine Holdings Corp., a member of the Lopez Group, allocated another P5 billion for its share buyback program despite the recent spike in its share price.
FPH said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its board of directors approved the additional allotment of P5 billion for the common shares buy-back program which is scheduled to run until July 2020.
The executive committee approved an interim additional allotment of P750 million for the program on June 27 and the company so far repurchased about P6.746 billion worth of shares.
With the approval of the additional budget for the share buyback, FPH will have a total of P5.003 billion available for further repurchases.
“As previously disclosed, the program is intended to strike a balance between enhancing the company’s capital structure and maintaining the ability to fund future growth and investments,” FPH said.
“Buyback transactions will be triggered if the company stock is substantially undervalued when there is high volatility in share prices or in any instance where a buyback should serve to improve shareholder value. FPH will also be mindful of the need to maintain the liquidity of its stock in the market,” it said.
FPH’s business units include energy firm First Gen Corp., Energy Development Corp., First Philippine Industrial Corp., First Philippine Properties Corp. and Rockwell Land Corp.
FPH budgeted P30 billion for 2019 capital expenditures on a consolidated basis primarily to fund the expansion of power generation unit First Gen Corp. and property firm Rockwell Land Inc.
The group is also set to commence the redevelopment of the 48-year old Benpres Building in Ortigas.
The six-story building which is currently being used as headquarters of most of the Lopez Group’s companies will be redeveloped into a 40-story office tower.
The share price of FPH hit a new 52-week high of P90 per share before closing at P88.15 Thursday.
FPH reported P3.75 billion in net income attributable to the parent equity holder in the first quarter, up by 86.5 percent from P2.01 billon a year ago.