Global telecoms blue chip Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) has announced its €500 million (£429.5 million) share buyback programme is to run from this Wednesday through to 29 November.
Vodafone tapped Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs to facilitate the buybacks, which will see around 2.5% of Vodafone’s current market value returned to shareholders.
“The sole purpose of the programme is to reduce share capital,” said the company.
Vodafone previously committed to returning €2 billion back to shareholders following the sale of its Spanish business to Zegona Communications (LSE:ZEG) for €5 billion.
While these buybacks are indicative of Vodafone’s generous shareholders returns policy they also divert cash flows away from Vodafone’s significant debt pile.
At the end of its financial period, Vodafone had net debt of €33.2 billion (£28.5 billion), a fraction of a percentage point less than net debt at the end of financial 2023.