Jadestone Energy to buy back up to $25m of shares

Asia-Pacific-focussed oil and gas company Jadestone Energy launched a share buyback programme of up to $25m on Tuesday, as part of its strategy to return up to $100m to shareholders over 12 months.

The AIM-traded firm said its agreement with Stifel Nicolaus Europe would grant Stifel the authority to purchase shares, to a maximum amount of $25m and a total of 46,574,528 shares in line with the shareholder approval given at June’s annual general meeting.

On 6 June, Jadestone announced its intention to return up to $100m of cash to shareholders over 12 months, based on its strong balance sheet and highly cash-generative asset base.

In conjunction with its ordinary dividend, the board said the buyback represented the next phase of the shareholder returns commitment, with the stated purpose being to reduce the share capital of Jadestone.

“Following on from last week's announced acquisition of an interest in the North West Shelf oil assets, we are very pleased to be able to launch this buyback programme now,” said president and chief executive officer Paul Blakeley.

“This delivers on our commitment, originally announced in early June, to significantly increase returns to shareholders, as well as clearly demonstrating that significant merger and acquisition activity and enhanced returns are not mutually exclusive.

“We believe this is a differentiating factor in our investment case, and we look forward to growing our business further, while at the same time ensuring that shareholders benefit directly from the positive impact of higher oil prices on our cash flows.”

At 1159 BST, shares in Jadestone Energy were up 5.44% at 102.28p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.