(Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. bumped up the size of its share buyback to ¥1.2 trillion ($8.3 billion) as the world’s largest carmaker enjoys strong demand in its main markets of Japan, Europe and North America.
The Japanese manufacturer added ¥200 billion to a ¥1 trillion stock repurchase plan announced in May, according to an exchange filing Tuesday. That means the company will likely buy back as much as 3.93% of its shares. The decision was based on “recent share price levels,” the company said.
The move wasn’t necessarily a surprise, according to Bloomberg Intelligence senior auto analyst Tatsuo Yoshida. Reducing strategic shares “will persist, just like Toyota’s efforts to electrify its fleet, but the pace will be determined in consideration of the impact it will have on the market,” he said.
Toyota’s stock is largely flat versus January levels, up just 1% this year versus the Nikkei 225’s 13.4% advance. At the same time, Toyota is delivering robust financial results.
The carmaker’s operating profit for the three months ended June 30 was ¥1.31 trillion, 17% higher than a year earlier. Its hybrid models are selling well in North America while a weaker yen is helping to boost income in Toyota’s home currency.
The share repurchase program, announced in May, will last through April 2025, Toyota said in the statement.
The enhanced buyback is also in line with the Japanese government’s wider push to get big enterprises to unwind cross-held shareholdings forged over decades to cement business relationships.
In July, as part of a broader effort to unwind strategic shareholdings with financial partners, Toyota said it would buy back ¥806.8 billion of its stock from major Japanese banks and insurers.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. will start divesting ¥1.32 trillion worth of strategic shareholdings in Toyota, Bloomberg previously reported.
--With assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima.
(Adds analyst’s comment, background.)
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