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SoftBank share buybacks near $3 billion despite May slowdown

Published 06/12/2020, 05:16 AM
Updated 06/12/2020, 05:20 AM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo

By Sam Nussey

TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank's (T:9984) share buybacks slowed in May, a company filing showed on Friday, although total purchases to support its share price since March reached 312 billion yen ($2.9 billion).

The buybacks, funded by a major asset sale programme, are part of a record up to 2.5 trillion yen undertaking by SoftBank, which spent 61 billion yen buying back its shares in May, compared with 235 billion yen in April.

Graphic: Shopping Spree, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/oakveqwgjvr/eikon.png

"Market sentiment was strong for its underlying holdings so SoftBank may have decided to keep some powder dry," said Kirk Boodry, analyst at Redex Research.

SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son is trying to stabilise the group, which has been hit by underperformance at some of its biggest technology investments.

The group's earnings were reported in May, where its $100 billion Vision Fund reported a 1.9 trillion yen operating shortfall, pushing SoftBank to a record full year loss.

The company's buybacks have caused concern at credit rating agencies, with S&P Global Ratings saying on Thursday it puts SoftBank's financial rigour in question.

SoftBank's shares, which have gained around 90% from their March lows, closed down 2.2% on Friday.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo

Latest comments

SON with his personnal experience is just  pushing the system to its paroxysm  softbank is just an erxample
softbank will endup with 1 %of its  stocks available tradable if we follow CEO logic and everything will be fine because stock is fine buying 1 stock for 50$ makes the 30 billions stocks worth 50 $ , for me it looks like manoeuvers from precedent centuries to keep the illusion that softbank is worth something, this is becoming a complete non sense we ll see how much time market will keep buying , oh *******i forgot Bank of JApan is holding 81% of all japaneese ETFs so they will keep buying for face value(that son is pushing higher with buybacks to get a biggerr share from central bank distributed money on japanees market),why Son will stop his fantasy unless his lender push him to the wall asking for more collaterals? market is either crazy keeping doing same not working things or this is bank robbery of a new level
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