Kingston Properties Limited (KPREIT) has relaunched its share buyback programme as other listed companies seek to repurchase their shares at a time when some stock prices are considered undervalued.

KPREIT made the announcement on Monday that it would be seeking to repurchase up to 0.5 per cent of its issued ordinary shares for up to two years. This is to take place three weeks following the notice to the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE). This translates to the company having the ability to purchase up to 4.42 million ordinary shares or $37 million based on Tuesday’s closing price of $8.37.

“The Board of Directors sees this use of capital as an opportunity to enhance shareholder value through the purchase, from time to time, of undervalued shares,” KPREIT added in the disclosure.

KPREIT’s last approved share buyback was in March 2021 for up to 0.5 per cent of shares or 3.39 million ordinary shares at the time. The company cancelled 609,294 ordinary shares during 2023 with its last purchase being for 66,673 ordinary shares at an average price of $7.04 on December 29, 2022. It also repurchased 59,471 ordinary shares between 2020 to 2021.

These share repurchases occurred at prices below KPREIT’s book value which is defined as shareholder’s equity dividend by outstanding ordinary shares. KPREIT’s book value at the end of 2023 was US$0.0542 (J$8.40), an improvement over the US$0.0504 (J$7.66). KPREIT usually hasn’t got close to the approved target in recent years as it has sought to continue raising new equity capital and pay shareholders increasing dividend flows.

KPREIT raised J$1.55 billion in June 2022 from their additional public offering (APO) while paying US$1.37 million during 2023 in dividends. This translated to a 100 per cent payout of funds from operations (FFO) and a 3.1 per cent dividend yield. KPREIT even declared a dividend of US$0.000566 to be paid on June 5 to shareholders on record as of May 17. This payment totals US$500,344.

Apart from KPREIT, several other companies have been very busy with their buyback programmes. GraceKennedy Limited, which began its share buybacks on November 21, has since repurchased 1,577,491 ordinary shares up to April 9. This is about 16 per cent of its target of up to 9.95 million ordinary shares to be repurchased over the next year on the JSE and Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE). GK’s latest share buyback was launched under the guise of GK Chief Executive Officer Donald Wehby mentioning that the shares trading below their economic value.

Sygnus Credit Investments Limited (SCI) made it second major round of share repurchases on March 19 when it repurchased 2.4 million Jamaican dollar ordinary shares for J$28.67 million. Its last purchase before that was in June 2023 when it launched the programme. SCI has now repurchased US$433,000 in ordinary shares relative to its US$9-million target to be executed over the next three years.

JMMB Group Limited repurchased 25,000 ordinary shares for J$687,458.44 on February 20 in its first purchase of its share buyback programme. JMMBGL is authorised to repurchase up to J$300 million in ordinary shares over a year.

Eppley Caribbean Property Fund Limited SCC – Value Fund last executed a share buyback between September 29 to October 2 where 6,700 shares were repurchased for J$267,891.47. This brought its total shares repurchased since 2020 to 2,111,501 ordinary shares relative to its approved target of 3.80 million ordinary shares. There have been no new repurchases since then.

Both QWI Investments Limited and TransJamaican Highway Limited received shareholder approval for approvals and modifications of their share buyback rules. However, this is QWI’s fifth-consecutive shareholder approved share buyback programme which has not been executed despite its share price trading below its net asset value (NAV).