Swiss supplier of fragrance ingredients Givaudan has decided to start a new share buy back programme of up to 800,000 registered shares - representing 10 per cent of the share capital, announced the board of directors this week.
According to a statement from the company, the move for the buy back programme was motivated by 'Givaudan's ample liquid funds, the continuous high generation of free cash flow, the attractive share price and the currently lacking perspective of major value-adding acquisitions.'
On 31 March 2003, Givaudan completed its first share buy back programme and the following month the Annual General Meeting approved the proposal to cancel the 725,627 repurchased registered shares and to reduce the share capital to SF80 million. In addition, the dividend was increased by 15.7 per cent to SF8.10.
With regards to this latest buy-back announcement, set to further improve earnings per share, a further reduction of the share capital by the amount of shares then repurchased will be proposed to the Annual General Meeting on 16 April 2004.