RE: Expecting.....11 Nov 2021 08:50
Can they not return all (C £4.5b) c Easter via a offer buyback?
Say there were 4billion shares at £4 (market cap (16b) pre current buy back
They offer to buy 1 in 5 of our shares at £5
That would cost C £4billion -£4.7 (in line with £4b being the floor)
Means that instead of sharing around £1b divi pot to 4b share (25p) it would be shared between 3billion remaining shares
That would be 33p (8.3% at £4, 6.6% at £5)
We get 25% on one share sold, 8.3% divi in rest (yipee) with shares likely to go to £5 (given divi and sellers of 800million shares may want to buy back from market adding upward pressure)
Only way I can see you can get to a target of 45p divi which is realistic as it would "only" cost £1.35b which could be covered by profit.
I'm sure the preference was to reduce shares.