Avarga led the buyback tally, buying back 10 million shares for a consideration of S$2,959,551. As of Jan 14, the current buyback mandate had seen the company purchase 1.72 per cent of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares) as of the date of the current share buy-back resolution.

 

Formerly known as UPP Holdings, Avarga operates three core businesses that include paper manufacturing, power generation and building materials distribution.

 

The company operates in five countries, employs more than 800 people and is expected to report its FY20 (ended Dec 30) financial results before the end of February.

 

The group' s revenue for its H1FY20 was S$720.3 million, compared to S$688.6 million for its H1FY19.

 

The overall gross profit for its H1FY20 increased by S$10.2 million or 14 per cent with revenue and gross profit from the building products business contributing at least 88 per cent of the group' s performance for both comparison periods on a consolidated basis.

 

In Avarga' s Q3FY20 business update back on Nov 13, for its statement on building products distribution, it referred to the Q3FY20 press release and earnings report announced by Taiga Building Products (Taiga), a firm in which it has an interest.

 

On May 22, 2020, Avarga announced it was increasing its interest in Taiga, including the interest held through Avarga Canada, from 67.9 per cent to 69.7 per cent of the issued common shares of Taiga. For its Q3FY20 (ended Sept 30), Taiga reported its consolidated net sales had increased 40 per cent from Q3FY19, largely attributed to higher selling prices for its commodity products.

 

Avarga maintains a market value of more than S$300 million. Its share price rallied from 15.6 Singapore cents per share at the end of 2019 to 28.0 cents per share at the end of 2020, with 1.22 cents paid in dividends over the calendar year. The company ended 2020 as a top 100 stock by turnover, up from its ranking as a top 300 stock by turnover for the first six months of the year.

 

Global Investments bought back 3,049,800 shares for a consideration of S$432,762, at an average price of 14.19 Singapore cents per share. As of Jan 14, the current buyback mandate had seen Global Investments purchase 3.55 per cent of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares) on the current mandate. The preceding share buyback mandate saw it buying back 8.52 per cent of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares).

 

Director and substantial shareholder transactions

 

The five trading sessions saw just over 40 changes in director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for 25 primary-listed stocks. This included five company director acquisitions, with one disposal filed, and substantial shareholders filing 12 acquisitions and nine disposals.