Yes, quite incredible commentary from Moshel back then, fortunately, after these, the gentleman has been replaced from the HPJ (Hallituksen Puheenjohtaja - Chairman of the Board) position.
Q2 24 conference call:
“On your second question, we did a buyback of 8.37 million shares, which is exactly 10% of the total outstanding shares that we had.
Why is it 10%? Because of some tax issues. If we do more than 10%, we’ll have to pay, according to the Israeli IRS, we’ll have to pay dividend tax. They allow us to do, and hopefully they will allow us to continue but we ask for a pre-ruling from the Israeli IRS, and they allow us to do 8.37 million shares, which is about 10% of the total shares. And if we will decide in the future to continue with buyback, all the options are on the table right now.”
Moshel personally seems to enjoy investing at these prices, 01/16/2025:
“The Reporting Person acquired 1,524,196 Shares of the Issuer covered by this Schedule 13D, in multiple open market transactions for an aggregate purchase price of approximately US $23,858,317”
The same announcement revealed that at the end of 2024, the number of shares would have been 69,558,570 pcs.
At the end of 2023, the number of shares was 83,982,462 pcs.
So, last year, roughly ~14.4 million pcs, or ~17.2% of its own shares, were bought.
Now, it’s time for a new and larger program.
If nothing else, at least we are moving in the right direction.
“During 2021, the Company purchased 693,734 shares in the amount of $35.4 million. In addition, during 2022, the Company purchased 1,077,213 shares in the amount of $42.6 million. During 2023 the company did not purchase any shares. As of December 31, 2023, the Company purchased 2,557,829 shares in the amount of $95.2 million under these repurchase programs”
