Euronav Share Buyback
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SHARE BUYBACK
ANTWERP, Belgium, 9 July 2020 – Euronav NV (NYSE: EURN & Euronext: EURN) (“Euronav” or the “Company”) announces that the Company has purchased on the NYSE and on Euronext Brussels a total of 3,379,108 of its own shares for an aggregate price of EUR 25,107,476 (USD 28,086,438) as part of its capital allocation strategy and returns to shareholder policy.
Following these transactions, the Company now owns 8,325,324 shares (3.78% of the total outstanding share count). Further detail on these transactions are as follows:
Shares repurchased on Euronext Brussels
Transaction date Quantity Average Price Lowest price Highest price Total price
30 June 2020 300,000 EUR 7.1464 EUR 7.100 EUR 7.165 EUR 2,143,920.00
01 July 2020 350,000 EUR 7.2917 EUR 7.225 EUR 7.325 EUR 2,552,095.00
02 July 2020 320,000 EUR 7.3013 EUR 7.21 EUR 7.43 EUR 2,336,416.00
03 July 2020 100,000 EUR 7.3489 EUR 7.27 EUR 7.42 EUR 734,890.00
06 July 2020 330,000 EUR 7.4754 EUR 7.40 EUR 7.55 EUR 2,466,882.00
07 July 2020 300,000 EUR 7.6626 EUR 7.53 EUR 7.86 EUR 2,298,780.00
08 July 2020 250,000 EUR 7.5914 EUR 7.49 EUR 7.705 EUR 1,897,850.00
09 July 2020 250,000 EUR 7.5395 EUR 7.445 EUR 7.677 EUR 1,884,875
Block trades on Euronext Brussels
Transaction date Time Quantity Price Total Price
2 July 2020 12.41 CET 7,500 EUR 7.36 EUR 55,237
Shares repurchased on the NYSE
Transaction date Quantity Average Price Lowest
price Highest
price Total price
30 June 2020 350,000 USD 8.0165 USD 7.995 USD 8.08 USD 2,805,781.60
1 July 2020 25,000 USD 8.2611 USD 8.17 USD 8.37 USD 206,527.50
2 July 2020 196,608 USD 8.2005 USD 8.17 USD 8.23 USD 1,612,283.90
6 July 2020 125,000 USD 8.4432 USD 8.31 USD 8.54 USD 1,055,400.00
7 July 2020 175,000 USD 8.4995 USD 8.435 USD 8.58 USD 1,487,412.50
8 July 2020 300,000 USD 8.6671 USD 8.55 USD 8.69 USD 2,600,130.00
CAPITAL ALLOCATION STRATEGY IN ACTION
Euronav remains committed to its guidance published on 9 January 2020 to target a return of at least 80% of net income to shareholders per quarter. This return to shareholders will primarily be in the form of a cash dividend. The Company notes that total dividend amount will be distributed to outstanding shares excluding those held by the Company. In accordance with its authorization to purchase up to 10% of the company’s issued shares granted by the 2020 shareholders’ meeting, the Company will always look at stock repurchase as an alternative if it believes more value can be created for shareholders. As the share price is currently trading well below the Company’s own evaluation of intrinsic value, the Supervisory Board and the Management Board believe that buying back own shares creates long term value for all stakeholders. Indeed, a Euronav share price of USD 9 translates into a new build VLCC valuation of just USD 68 million compared to a current valuation of USD 89 million (source: Clarksons).
The Company will monitor market conditions to decide whether to continue buying back shares in accordance with industry best practices, taking into account a variety of factors, including regulatory or legal requirements and other corporate considerations.
To this end, Euronav has mandated Clarksons Securities to act as an independent broker to coordinate and execute share repurchases on the exchanges of Euronext Brussels and/or the NYSE.
This share buyback reflects the strength of Euronav’s balance sheet and the confidence of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board in the long term value in the Company’s shares.
It is important to stress that this return to shareholders is from net income generated from our capital base and does not impact the Company’s strong liquidity which will be augmented by the 20% of net income that is retained. At the end of Q2 2020, Euronav’s liquidity position will be approximately USD 1.09 billion before any returns to shareholders are taken into account.