Lewis Group, the retailer with a market capitalisation of R2.2 billion, continues to aggressively buy back its own shares. During the latter half of May, it repurchased 2.2% of its stock , taking its total since 2017 to around 35 million. When it commenced this programme six years ago, it had 98 million shares in issue. Now, that number is 54 million. Thus far, the number of shares in issue has decreased by 45%.
Chair Hilton Saven says it is buying back its own stock “as the group’s share price currently trades at a significant discount to net asset value”. Its net asset value per share was R80.76 at the end March. Over the last 52 weeks, shares have been trading between R35 and R54. Shares closed on Monday at R39.50. Lewis’s share price By the end of March, the repurchases since 2017 had been done at an average price of R34.99 per share. In recent months, the average price has been higher.