Japan’s NYK Line has passed the halfway mark in its quest to repurchase up to ¥200bn ($1.3bn) of its own shares.
The giant shipowner said that last month it had bought back a further 8.9m shares worth ¥34.3bn in the open market through the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
A programme authorised in August and running to 30 April means NYK is targeting 85m shares — 16.7% of its total stock.
The shipowner has now reacquired 25.9m shares for ¥100.3bn.
The share closed at ¥3,813 on Wednesday, up 3.7%.
The full tranche would cost ¥326bn at that price, however, meaning it will not achieve the 85m-share target without a fall in value.
In August, NYK became the latest of the big listed Japanese shipowners to post a sizeable decline in its financial performance, posting a 78.6% drop in net profit for the first three months of its financial year to ¥73.4bn.
Revenue for the quarter was down 15.7% to ¥567.5bn, while operating profit dropped by 47.2% to ¥47.1bn.
In October, the group said it would be beefing up on LNG carriers to meet what it sees as an expansion of the trade and increased demand for vessels.
Executive officer and LNG group head Yasuyuki Inami told a conference in Tokyo that the company plans to boost the fleet to more than 120 vessels by 2027 from 85 as of the end of September.
