The A2 Milk Co Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price is down 1.7% in early morning trade on Monday, while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.9%.
Shares in the ASX 200 dairy stock are currently trading for $6.26 after closing Friday at $6.37.
This comes as the company reports the completion of its NZ$149 (AU$139 million) on-market share buyback program.
Image source: Getty Images
What happened with the share buyback?
A2 Milk first announced its intention for an on-market share buyback of up to NZ$150 million on 29 August, when the company released its full-year results.
The A2 Milk share price closed up 10% on the day.
The buyback was enabled by some strong results. Those included a 20% year-on-year increase in revenue to NZ$1.45 billion and a 42% leap in net profit after tax (NPAT) to NZ$115 million.
Commenting on the share buyback at the time, A2 Milk CEO David Bortolussi said, "Our on-market buyback of up to NZ$150 million demonstrates effective capital management and the improved confidence we have in our strategy, execution and outlook."
Today that buyback is complete.
The company reported that it acquired a total of just under 21.7 million shares. That works out to 2.9% of issued capital.
Excluding brokerage costs, the average price was NZ$6.87 per A2 Milk share, for a total consideration of approximately NZ$149 million.
As part of the buyback, those shares have been cancelled. That leaves A2 Milk with a total of 721,976,214 outstanding ordinary shares.
With the buyback complete, A2 Milk reported it has further reduced its share capital in its statement of financial position. The company expects to report share capital of around NZ$100,000 for FY23.
A2 Milk share price snapshot
As you can see in the chart below, the A2 Milk share price has been a strong performer over the past full year, up 15% despite today's retrace.
