LT Group Inc., the listed holding company of tycoon Lucio Tan, wants to buy back up to P2 billion worth of shares from the market.
LT Group in a disclosure to the stock exchange said the company would repurchase shares from the Philippine Stock Exchange starting March 20, 2020 until December 31, 2021.
The conglomerate, which has investments in banking, tobacco, liquor, sugar milling, and real estate, will fund the share buyback program using its unrestricted retained earnings. It intends to resell the share to the market “when it is beneficial to the corporation”.
From a 52-week high of P17.60 per share recorded in March last year, stock price of LT Group recently plunged to a 52-week low of P6.63 per share due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Several listed companies earlier announced similar share buyback programs while some increased the size of their buybacks amid the current market sell-off on fears related to the spread of COVID-19.
Among these companies are Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., Megaworld Construction Corp. and Ayala Land Inc.
LT Group reported an attributable net income of P14.72 billion in the first nine months of 2019, up 17 percent from P12.57 billion year-on-year.
Philippine National Bank contributed P3.64 billion or 25 percent of the total net income while the tobacco business accounted for P9.57 billion or 65 percent.
Eton Properties Philippines Inc. contributed P626 million, followed by Tanduay Distillers Inc. which accounted for P509 million. Asia Brewery Inc. provided P254 million.
The company’s 30.9-percent stake in Victorias Milling Company Inc. accounted for P148 million.
The conglomerate in July participated in the P12-billion stock rights offering of PNB by buying P7.2 billion worth of shares.