Japan’s NYK Line has revealed a big share repurchase deal as part of a much larger capital return programme.
The giant shipowner said it had been buying back stock following approval from directors at a meeting on 3 August.
Between then and the end of last month, the company acquired 12.35m shares worth ¥47.3bn ($321.6m), despite sharply falling profit.
The share was trading at ¥3,997 on Wednesday, down 2%.
The buyback programme authorises the company to purchase 85m shares, or 16.7% of the group's equity.
This can cost a maximum of ¥200bn.
The stock would be worth ¥341bn at the current price, however.
The scheme ends on 30 April.
In August, NYK became the latest of the big listed Japanese shipowners to post a sizeable decline in its financial performance for the first quarter.
The Takaya Soga-led group posted a 78.6% decline in net profit for the first three months of the financial year to ¥73.4bn, a statement showed.
Revenue for the first quarter was down 15.7% to ¥567.5bn, while the shipowner’s operating profit dropped by 47.2% to ¥47.1bn.
“In the container shipping division … the weak global cargo demand and alleviation of port congestion caused spot freight rates to fall, which also impacted the service contract renewals, and profit levels fell,” the shipowner said.
NYK has revised its interim profit forecast up by 4.3% to ¥120bn, however.
