Golden Ocean Group has made its first repurchases under its share buyback programme by repurchasing 250,000 of its securities for roughly $2.4m.

The bulker owner, in which John Fredriksen is the largest shareholder, announced in October a plan to buy back up to $100m of its shares over the following 12 months.

It said on Monday it has bought 100,000 shares on the Oslo Stock Exchange at an average price of NOK 79.37 each.

A further 150,000 shares were repurchased on the Nasdaq bourse in New York at an average price of $8.20.

Golden Ocean, which focuses on the capesize and panamax segments, now holds 555,000 of its own shares, equivalent to 0.28% of its share capital.

“The shares have been acquired on a discount to our estimated NAV [net asset value] in GOGL at $9/share,” equities analysts at Fearnley Securities said in a note on Monday.

When announcing the buyback plan, chief executive Ulrik Andersen said the scheme reflected Golden Ocean’s confidence in the market and its strategy of investing for long-term shareholder return. The company last went on a major buyback spree in 2019.

Speaking to TradeWinds in mid-November, Andersen said one of the main reasons the shipowner had not repurchased any of its shares sooner is that it wanted to announce its third-quarter results first.

Golden Ocean’s share price has fallen by nearly 16% in New York this year to date.

The firm reported net income of $104.6m and earnings per share of $0.52 for the third quarter, which included a $21.9m gain booked on the sale of two ultramaxes.

During the third quarter of 2021, when freight markets were much stronger, Golden Ocean booked net income of $195.3m and $0.97 in earnings per share.

US investment giant BlackRock became Golden Ocean’s second-biggest shareholder in September and holds a stake of about 5%.

This story has been amended since first publication to reflect roughly $2.4m has been spent.