QUILTER PLC Quilter PLC said on Monday it had offered to buy back its own stock from shareholders owning fewer than 200 shares to cut administration costs.
The London-based wealth manager said the offer represents a 5% premium to the volume weighted average price on the London Stock Exchange over the five trading days before October 20. On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the premium is also 5% to the volume weighted average price over the five trading days before October 20.
The proposed offer opens on Monday and closes on November 1.
Quilter said it has an "unusually large" number of small shareholders for a company of its size.
Following a six for seven share consolidation, the number of shareholders holding fewer than 200 shares has increased. It has more than 200,000 shareholders on the share register, of which about 134,000, or 67%, are small shareholders.
It said the recurring costs of administration resulting from the large number of shareholders are disproportionate to the size of a small shareholding and affect shareholders as a whole.
The maximum number of shares eligible to participate in the odd-lot offer is about 17 million, representing 1.21% of the shares in issue as at Friday last week.
If all odd-lot holders were to participate in the offer, the maximum cash consideration payable to such odd-lot holders, based on a closing price of 90.1 pence, would be up to around GBP16.1 million.
In London, shares in Quilter were down 1.2% at 98.42 pence on Monday afternoon. They lost 1.6% to ZAR20.96 in Johannesburg.
By Artwell Dlamini, Alliance News reporter
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