Caxton plans shares repurchase

Caxton and CTP Publishers and Printers’ shares rose yesterday after it said it planned to buy back up to 20% of its own shares. That’s after shareholders approved the move at its annual general meeting on Monday.

The publishing and printing group said the repurchase programme would continue until 24 September next year and it wouldn’t pay more than 10% above the volume weighted average price of its shares over the five trading days preceding any particular purchase. It said the programme could be discontinued at any stage.

Companies buy back their shares when they are perceived as undervalued, often instead of paying dividends. By reducing the number of shares in issue, earnings are divided by a lower number of remaining shares, boosting financial ratios.

In October, Caxton sold its stakes in open plan access network Octotel and network provider RSAWeb to private equity investor Neoma Africa Fund for R493 million. At the time, it said the proceeds from the disposal would be added to its existing cash reserves, pending decisions on how to best use them.The repurchase programme may be discontinued at any stage during the period concerned and there is no obligation on the company to purchase any shares during the period,” Caxton said.

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