by millionairemind » Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:24 am
Published March 6, 2010
Jardine Strategic to buy back 13.9m shares
The company and Jardine Matheson Group more than double their profits for 2009
By JAMIE LEE
JARDINE Strategic Holdings is looking to purchase 13.9 million of its shares for up to US$250 million. Under a share buyback tender, the auto distribution and property investment company yesterday proposed to buy and cancel these shares - which represent about 1.3 per cent of its capital - at a price ranging between US$18 and US$19 per share.
Since this share buyback is through a tender, the final price will be determined by the number of bids offered and the price of each bid, a Jardine spokesman noted. This means the fewer the number of bids, the higher the odds of a bid price that is closer to US$19 per share.
A shareholder who sells his shares at US$18 now will enjoy a 5.39 per cent premium when compared to the stock's closing price in Singapore yesterday of US$17.08. The company said this was part of a strategic capital allocation in the Jardine group and that it aims to maintain a free float of at least 15 per cent.
Jardine Matheson Group, which owns about 81 per cent of Jardine Strategic, has said it would not sell its shares. If all 13.9 million shares in the tender exercise are bought and cancelled by Jardine Strategic, Jardine Matheson's stake in the company would reach about 82 per cent.
The company said shareholders of successfully tendered shares at the record date of the final dividend will still be entitled to receive the payout of 14 US cents per share. The tender offer closes on April 7, after the ex-dividend date of March 17. Jardine Strategic added it did not intend to make another tender above the strike price during the next six months.
The company more than doubled its net profit for the year ended Dec 31, 2009. It posted a net profit of US$1.84 billion for the period, up from US$692 million a year ago. This translates into earnings of US$2.97 per share, compared to the US$1.12 a year earlier. The result was largely thanks to a gain of US$1.89 billion booked under change in fair value of investment properties - including those belonging to Hongkong Land - in 2009, compared to just US$2 million in gains booked a year ago. Full-year revenue rose just 2.44 per cent to US$18.9 billion.
The largest sales contribution continues to come from Astra - an Indonesian motor car and palm oil production player - which recorded a 4.38 per cent dip in revenue to US$9.54 billion.
Jardine Matheson posted a 2009 full-year net profit of US$1.6 billion, more than double 2008's US$666 million. This translates to earnings of US$4.51 per share, up from earnings of US$1.89 per share.
Full-year revenue inched up to US$22.5 billion from US$22.36 billion. The board has also recommended a final dividend of 65 US cents per share.
'We are fortunate that our businesses are mainly deployed in Greater China and South-east Asia, where conditions for growth are more favourable than elsewhere,' said chairman Henry Keswick in its financial statement. 'We are therefore hopeful of another satisfactory performance in 2010.'
Shares of Jardine Matheson closed 1.96 per cent lower, or down 58 US cents to end at US$29 yesterday.
"If a speculator is correct half of the time, he is hitting a good average. Even being right 3 or 4 times out of 10 should yield a person a fortune if he has the sense to cut his losses quickly on the ventures where he has been wrong" - Bernard Baruch
Disclaimer - The author may at times own some of the stocks mentioned in this forum. All discussions are NOT to be construed as buy/sell recommendations. Readers are advised to do their own research and analysis.