The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price is edging lower during Monday morning trade. The retail conglomerate released an announcement regarding its off-market share buy-back.
At the time of writing, Woolworths shares are swapping hands for $40.11, down 0.15%. It's worth noting that its shares are within sight of breaking their all-time high of $42.66 reached on 20 August.
Let's take a closer look into what the company provided to the ASX.
Woolworths completes share buy back
In today's statement, Woolworths advised it has successfully completed its $2 billion off-market share buy-back.
Management determined the final market price to come at $40.06 for each Woolworths share. This represents a 14% discount on the 5-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) to the closing price on 15 October.
Eligible shareholders will receive $34.46 for each share, including a capital component of $4.31 and a dividend component of $30.15.
The transaction involves 58 million Woolworths shares or 4.6% of the entire issued capital.
Due to strong demand, the buy-back was scaled down by 81.2% to minimise disadvantaging shareholders with small holdings. For those who had 180 shares or less as a result, Woolworths noted it will buy back all of these shares.
However, for shareholders with more than 180 shares, the company will buy back 18.8% of the shares offered.
Woolworths group chief financial officer, Stephen Harrison said:
We are very pleased to have successfully completed the share buy-back, returning $2 billion of capital to shareholders, as foreshadowed at the time of the Endeavour Group demerger. Woolworths Group remains well-positioned to pursue our future growth aspirations, given the strength of the Group's balance sheet.
Woolworths share price snapshot
It's been a modest 12 months for Woolworths shares, increasing in value of around 15% over the period. The company's share price has been relatively steady along the way, despite taking a dive during the "September effect".
Woolworths commands a market capitalisation of about $51 billion and has 1.27 billion shares on its registry.
