iOCO has bought back 1.5% of its shares since August 2025, the technology group told investors on Tuesday, as part of an effort to boost shareholder value. The company has the authority to repurchase up to a fifth of its stock.
Since August, iOCO has repurchased 9,375,081 shares, representing a total cash value of R38,822,656. It now has 11,461,688 such equity units held as treasury shares.
Of this total, 2,899,689 shares were repurchased during February (January 30 to February 27), at an average price of R4.26. This translates to R12,345,107, excluding transaction costs.
The group — formerly EOH — began buying up its own shares in August. Through a wholly owned subsidiary, it entered into a share repurchase programme in terms of which it may buy back up to a maximum of 1.8-million ordinary shares, having received authority to do so at a general meeting on May 23 2025.
By reducing the number of outstanding shares a company increases its earnings per share, which often translates to a higher stock price. This is particularly attractive when the management believes the shares are undervalued.
When a company announces a share buyback it can signal to the market that the management is confident about the company’s prospects.
In early December, the group received further authority to repurchase 118,240,168 more ordinary shares, representing 18.5% of iOCO’s total issued share capital.
In a note, the board said it is “satisfied that the repurchase is an appropriate capital allocation decision at this stage of the group’s turnaround, supported by the company’s solid liquidity position. The repurchase enables the group to optimise its capital structure and deliver enhanced value to shareholders, while ensuring continued capacity to invest in operational and strategic initiatives.”
This comes as the technology provider expects to report EPS and HEPS of 27c-30c, an increase of 42%-58%, for the six months to end-January 2026. This is compared with the earnings and headline earnings of 19c for the previous comparable period.
According to the group, the results reflect “the early benefits of implementing our three-step strategy of cost rationalisation, a decentralised operating model and disciplined capital allocation. These actions are positioning iOCO for sustainable long-term growth and further enhancing shareholder value”.
Last week, the group announced that Dennis Venter had stepped down as co-CEO and from its board, “to pursue his other business interests”.
Venter and CEO Rhys Summerton famously took up leadership at the company in a show of shareholder activism that saw the pair revamp its management and overall strategy. Neither took a salary, choosing instead to gain from the appreciation of iOCO’s share price. The pair are associated with about 25% of the group’s equity.
iOCO shares fell as much as 3% in trading on Tuesday, pairing some of those losses to trade at R4.30, 1.15% weaker, by the close.
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