AGI buying back P2.5 B shares

Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), the listed holding company of tycoon Andrew Tan, is implementing another round of share repurchase program amounting to up to P2. 5 billion.

AGI chief executive officer Kevin Tan said the company believes in the stock’s underlying value and that a share buyback could further prop up the share’s value as well as earnings per share.

“We continue to pursue a share buyback because we believe in our stock’s underlying value, which is backed by our strong franchises across all our business segments, years of profitable operations, and continued expansion thrust,” Tan said.

AGI said its board of directors has approved the new share buyback exercise, which will run for 12 months beginning Sept. 23, 2019.

The previous buyback program ran for 24 months starting last Sept. 24, 2017. Under this program, AGI bought back 309 million shares, accounting for about three percent of its pre-buyback issued and outstanding shares.

“The share buyback is also EPS-enhancing and should improve our share values moving forward,” Tan said.

AGI has investments in property, hotel and tourism, gaming and casino and food among others.

In the first half, the company recorded an attributable net income of P8.1 billion, an increase of four percent year-on-year.

This was achieved on the back of a 15 percent improvement in consolidated revenue to P82.8 billion.

AGI announced earlier that it was allocating P410 billion for capital expenditures from 2020 to 2024. The bulk, or around 73 percent of five-year capex will be spent for Megaworld’s residential development projects, as well as the aggressive build out of Megaworld Premier Offices, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls and its home-grown hotel brands.

Another 15 percent will be allocated for Travellers International Hotel Group, the company behind Resorts World Manila. The money will likely go to the development of Travellers’ next integrated resort in Westside City along the Manila Bay area.