Growthpoint Properties has successfully placed 67,4 million NewRiver REIT shares which it acquired as part consideration for selling its stake in Capital & Regional, raising gross proceeds of £50,5 million. 47,7 million shares were acquired by NewRiver REIT at a price of 75 pence per share in terms of a share buyback by the company and the remaining 19,7 million shares were placed in the market by means of an accelerated bookbuild programme at 75 pence per share. The cash proceeds of the placement will be used by Growthpoint to strengthen its current balance sheet position and to pursue select investment opportunities.
In terms of the revised offer from Primary Health Properties (PHP), Assura shareholders will be paid a special dividend in lieu of and representing an acceleration of the quarterly dividend due during October. Following the announcement that the revised offer had become unconditional, shareholders will now receive a gross special dividend of 0.84 pence (R20.03224), payable on 26 August 2025. In addition, in terms of the mix and match election offer to Assura shareholders by PHP, 792,655,708 new PHP shares were issued and listed this week with a value of c.R17,5 billion. The revised offer remains open for acceptances until further notice.
The JSE has notified shareholders that the listings of Kibo Energy and Sable Exploration Mining have been suspended with immediate effect for failing to publish financial statements within the prescribed period as stipulated in the JSE Listing Requirements.
This week the following companies announced the repurchase of shares:
Glencore’s current share buy-back programme plans to acquire shares of an aggregate value of up to US$1 billion. The shares will be repurchased on the LSE, BATS, Chi-X and Aquis exchanges and is expected to be completed in February 2026. This week 2,9 million shares were repurchased at an average price of £2.83 per share for an aggregate £8,17 million.
In May 2025 Tharisa announced it would undertake a repurchase programme of up to US$5 million. Shares have been trading at a significant discount, having been negatively impacted by the global commodity pricing environment, geo-political events and market volatility. Over the period 4 to 8 August 2025, the company repurchased 22,136 shares at an average price of R20.44 on the JSE and 341,126 shares at 86.14 pence per share on the LSE.
In May 2025, British American Tobacco extended its share buyback programme by a further £200 million, taking the total amount to be repurchased by 31 December 2025 to £1,1 billion. The extended programme is being funded using the net proceeds of the block trade of shares in ITC to institutional investors. This week the company repurchased a further 588,198 shares at an average price of £42.51 per share for an aggregate £24,99 million.
During the period 4 to 8 August 2025, Prosus repurchased a further 1,914,429 Prosus shares for an aggregate €96,33 million and Naspers, a further 177,668 Naspers shares for a total consideration of R996,15 million.
Five companies issued profit warnings this week: Thungela Resources, Impala Platinum, KAP, Truworths International and Master Drilling.
During the week two companies issued or withdrew cautionary notices: ArcelorMittal and Blue Label Telecoms.
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