Since the commencement of its share buy-back programme on March 1, 2024, Airtel Africa Plc has on the London Stock Exchange purchased 991,861 ordinary shares in aggregate from Citigroup Global Markets Limited (Citi).
Airtel Africa agreed with Citigroup Global Markets Limited to conduct the first tranche of the buy-back and carry out on-market purchases of its ordinary shares with the Company subsequently purchasing its ordinary shares from Citi.
Under this agreement, Citi acts as riskless principal and makes decisions independently of the Company.
The table which contains detailed information of the individual trades made by Citigroup Global Markets Limited as part of the buy-back programme shows that on March 4, Airtel Africa purchased 500,000 units while on March 1, its purchased 491,861 shares.
The sole purpose of the buy-back programme is to reduce the capital of the Company. As such, all shares purchased under the buy-back programme will be cancelled.
Airtel Africa commenced its share buy-back programme, further to its announcement on February 1, 2024 following the publication of its nine-month results ended December 31, 2023. The share buy-back which commenced on March 1 will return up to $100 million to shareholders over a period of up to 12 months.
While the March 4 buy-back was at a volume weighted average price of GBp 97.07 per ordinary share, the March 1 buy-back was at volume weighted average price of GBp 97.14 per ordinary share.
The share buy-back programme is expected to be phased over two tranches, with the ongoing first tranche anticipated to end on or before August 31, 2024. This first tranche will amount to a maximum of $50 million.
This buy-back programme reflects the significant progress made in recent years to reduce leverage and strengthen the Company’s balance sheet. In light of the cash accretion at the holding company level, the current leverage and the consistent strong operating cash generation, Airtel Africa is well positioned to undertake this share buy-back to enhance shareholder returns which is consistent with its existing capital allocation policy.
