Ahold Delhaize buys back another billion in shares

Next year, Belgo-Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize intends to buy back another one billion euros of its own shares. This means that the supermarket group will continue its long-standing tradition for at least another year.

Maintaining the balance

Both in the open market and through intermediaries, the supermarket group will purchase shares worth one billion euros in 2020. The group wants to reduce its capital, as some (or possibly all) of the repurchased shares will be destroyed. “Maintaining a balanced approach between funding growth in key channels and returning excess liquidity to shareholders is part of Ahold Delhaize’s financial framework and supports its Leading Together strategy”, the company stated in a press release.

The retail group has been buying back its own shares every year since 2017: in 2017 it did so for one billion euros, in 2018 for two billion euros, and this year once again for one billion euros. In that respect, investment adviser Barclays is calling the news a “non-event”.

However, there actually was some doubt as to whether Ahold Delhaize would continue this tradition next year: the announcement had not been made to date, while most analysts had expected it to be announced at the same time as the results were announced in the third quarter. The arrival of a new financial director at the beginning of 2020 had made Barclays, among others, afraid for when the time comes for when there is no new purchasing programme. The fact that there is now going to be another reduction in capital is therefore well received.