US-listed Ardmore Shipping has renewed a share buyback programme that could see it spend $50m on its own stock.
The Ireland-based MR tanker specialist's latest SEC filing shows directors authorised a scheme to replace the one that expires on 30 September.
Chief executive Anthony Gurnee told TradeWinds the move was a “refresh” and that the earlier programme was also for $50m.
The filing is “just keeping our programmes available for as and when needed,” he added.
Transactions could take place from time to time at “prices that are considered to be appropriate by the company,” the filing stated.
“The company expects to repurchase these shares in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions,” it added.
But during an earnings call in August, Ardmore bosses did not indicate there were any immediate plans for deals.
The New York-listed owner had just paid out a shareholder dividend of $0.19 per share, in line with its policy of handing over one-third of adjusted earnings.
Net debt was sliced by 18% at $110m, helping it to lower cash breakeven to $14,000 per day.
And net profit for the second quarter quarter was $23.7m, beating analyst estimates by a penny per share. That pushed first-half profits to $66.9m, trebling the total from 2022.
Ongoing debate
Gurnee told analysts that with one-third of earnings going to dividends and more than one-third going to capital expenditures on vessels, “what’s left is there to continue delevering — I don’t think we’ll continue to delever at the same rate as we did last year”.
The CEO said: “It’s a good ongoing debate about dividends versus buybacks. But at the moment, we’re focused on dividends.”
On Monday, Ardmore prepared the ground for share sales also worth up to $50m.
The company filed a prospectus in the US to issue and sell stock from “time to time”.
Ardmore brought in investment banks Evercore Group, DNB Markets and UBS Securities to handle the deals as agents.
They will receive a 2% fee.
