Did anyone else notice EHL's share buyback activities recently?
From early Sept to mid-Oct, EHL's broker was buying back most days, ranging from 100k to 600k shares (one day was 1mill). Total share buybacks before last Friday were 5.3 mill shares. Share buybacks stopped around mid-October, which I recall was curious because EHL's share price was still falling. (Did they advise the broker in mid-Oct to suspend buybacks until further notice?)
On Friday, when the trading halt ended, EHL's broker acquired a whopping 4mill shares (for a lot less money!). The program still has 22 mill more shares to buy up, if it wishes. That's about 13 times all EHL shares currently for sale on market, although no doubt many more sellers on the sidelines.
Investors (Morningstar?) today indicated that it would prefer EHL to use buyback funds to reduce debt. This is a judgment call, of course, which depends on whether EHL will lose more OZ business or whether it still has plenty of margin and cash flow. EHL had a healthy cash flow last year (before capital growth funding), but less clear with lower OZ utilization and possibly tighter margin contracts.
EHL Price at posting:
50.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
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