Aircon maker CIC sets window to buy back shares

The country’s leading integrated cooling and refrigeration solutions provider Concepcion Industrial Corp. (CIC) has approved a three-year program to buy back shares from the local stock market.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Monday, CIC said its board had approved a program to “provide price support for its shares and enhance share value.”

The buyback program will commence this Sept. 10 and end on Sept. 9, 2022.

Based on the disclosure, CIC will be authorized to repurchase up to 12 million common shares, equivalent to around 3 percent of the company’s common market capitalization.

CIC is currently valued by the stock market at close to P13 billion. This suggests the company can buy back as much as P390 million worth of shares over that three-year period. For the first year, CIC was authorized to buy back as much as P100 million worth of common shares, the disclosure said.

“The buyback program will not involve active and widespread solicitation from stockholders in general, and will not adversely affect the company’s ability to fund any of its prospective and existing projects/investments,” CIC said.

The buyback program will be executed through the open market by means of the trading facilities of the PSE.

Companies buy back shares from the stock market when they deem that share prices are undervalued. However, only companies with retained earnings are allowed to practice this.

CIC said the stock buyback program would be funded by internally generated funds.

To date, CIC has about 407.26 million issued and listed shares. Outstanding shares are about 405.5 million while some 1.76 million shares are held by its treasury.