3 December
2024
Greencore Group plc ('Greencore' or
the 'Group' or the 'Company'), a FTSE 250 leading manufacturer of
convenience foods in the UK, announces its intention to commence a
share buyback programme ('Programme') with an aggregate value of up
to £10 million. The Programme follows the return of £40 million to
shareholders by way of a share buyback between May and November
2024.
Greencore has entered into an agreement with Shore Capital
Stockbrokers Limited ('Shore Capital') pursuant to which Shore
Capital will carry out on-market purchases of Ordinary Shares in
the capital of the Company (the 'Shares') independent of the
Company on an irrevocable and non-discretionary basis. Shore
Capital will make its trading decisions in relation to the
Programme independently of the Group.
The maximum price paid per Share
(exclusive of expenses) will be no more than the higher of: (i) 5%
above the average of the middle market quotations taken from the
London Stock Exchange Daily Official List for the five business
days preceding any Ordinary Shares being purchased; and (ii) the
higher of the price of the last independent trade and the highest
independent bid for Ordinary Shares on the trading venue where the
purchase is carried out. The minimum price shall be no less than
(exclusive of expenses) a price of £0.01 pence per Share, being the
nominal value of a Share.
The Programme will commence today, 3
December 2024, and will end no later than 30 April 2024 unless
completed or terminated earlier. Under the terms of the Programme,
the Shares will be repurchased on the London Stock Exchange and
will be cancelled.
The maximum number of Shares which
can be repurchased under the Programme is 19,894,982. The
purpose of the programme is to reduce the share capital of the
Company in line with this announcement. The Programme will be
conducted at all times within the limits of the applicable
authority granted by shareholders to repurchase the Company's
Ordinary Shares in issue.
Shareholders should be aware that
the programme will, insofar as is possible, be conducted in
accordance with the safe harbour parameters of the Market Abuse
Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 596/2014) and the Commission
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 (as incorporated into UK
domestic law by virtue of the UK's European Union (Withdrawal) Act
2018 and the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations
2019)('MAR') as well as the applicable laws and regulations of the
UK Financial Conduct Authority. The Programme will be effected in
accordance with Chapter 12 of the rules of the Financial Conduct
Authority.
However, Shares acquired pursuant to
the Programme may on any given trading day represent a significant
proportion of the daily trading volume in the Shares on the London
Stock Exchange and could exceed 25% of the average daily trading
volume. On days where a buyback of shares exceeds 25% of the
average daily trading volume, the Company will not benefit from the
exemption contained in Article 5(1) in the UK version of MAR.
Furthermore, the Programme will not prevent the Company from making
additional purchases of Shares, including by way of block trades,
in accordance with the Company's general authority to repurchase
Ordinary Shares where it considers appropriate to do so.
Any market purchase of Ordinary
Shares pursuant to the Programme will be announced no later than
7.30am on the business day following the day on which the purchase
occurred.
For
further information, please contact:
Damien Moynagh
|
General Counsel & Company
Secretary
|
Tel: +353 (0) 1 605 1000
|
Curtis Armstrong
|
Finance Director - FP&A and
IR
|
Tel: +44 (0) 1246
384649
|
Jonathan Neilan
|
FTI Consulting
|
Tel: +353 (0) 86 231 4135
|
Nick Hasell
|
FTI Consulting
|
Tel: +44 (0) 203 727 1340
|
About Greencore
We are a leading manufacturer of
convenience food in the UK and our purpose is to make every day
taste better. To help us achieve this we have a model called The
Greencore Way, which is built on the differentiators of People at
the Core, Great Food, Excellence and Sustainability - The Greencore
Way describes both who we are and how we will succeed.
We supply all of the major
supermarkets in the UK. We also supply convenience and travel
retail outlets, discounters, coffee shops, foodservice and other
retailers. We have strong market positions in a range of categories
including sandwiches, salads, sushi, chilled snacking, chilled
ready meals, chilled soups and sauces, chilled quiche, ambient
sauces, pickles and frozen Yorkshire Puddings.
In FY24 we manufactured 748m
sandwiches and other food to go products, 125m chilled ready meals,
and 204m bottles of cooking sauces, dips and table sauces. We carry
out more than 10,500 direct to store deliveries each day. We have
16 world-class manufacturing sites and 17 distribution centres in
the UK, with industry-leading technology and supply chain
capabilities. We generated revenues of £1.8bn in FY24 and employ
c.13,300 people. We are headquartered in Dublin,
Ireland.