Shareholder Remuneration Policy
On February 12, 2020, Telenet Group Holding NV (“Telenet” or the “Company”) (Euronext Brussels: TNET) announced a new share buy-back program of up to €55.0 million (the “Share Repurchase Program 2020”), effective as of end-February 2020. Under this program, Telenet may acquire from time to time its common stock, for a maximum of 1.1 million shares or a maximum consideration of €55.0 million, up to October 31, 2020. The share repurchases will be conducted under the terms and conditions approved by the extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting of the Company of April 24, 2019. The repurchased shares under this program will be used to cover future obligations under the Company's share option plans. Telenet will continuously monitor both its current and future obligations under such plans in view of keeping an adequate level of treasury shares with the excess subsequently earmarked for cancellation as in April and December 2019.
Brussels, March 30, 2020 – Telenet Group Holding NV (“Telenet” or the “Company”) (Euronext Brussels: TNET) hereby discloses certain information in relation to its share repurchases, in accordance with Article 8:4 of the Royal Decree of 29 April 2019 implementing the Belgian Code on Companies and Associations. The Company repurchased in total 1,100,000 own shares under the Share Repurchase Program 2020 for an aggregate amount of €33.5 million at an average price of €30.43. As such, the Company fully completed is share buy-back program. The Company currently holds 5,613,142 own shares, representing 4.90% of the total number of outstanding shares.
Brussels, March 23, 2020 – Telenet Group Holding NV (“Telenet” or the “Company”) (Euronext Brussels: TNET) hereby discloses certain information in relation to its share repurchases, in accordance with Article 8:4 of the Royal Decree of 29 April 2019 implementing the Belgian Code on Companies and Associations. The Company currently holds 4,923,538 own shares, representing 4.29% of the total number of outstanding shares.
Brussels, March 16, 2020 – Telenet Group Holding NV (“Telenet” or the “Company”) (Euronext Brussels: TNET) hereby discloses certain information in relation to its share repurchases, in accordance with Article 8:4 of the Royal Decree of 29 April 2019 implementing the Belgian Code on Companies and Associations. The Company currently holds 4,740,705 own shares, representing 4.13% of the total number of outstanding shares.
Brussels, March 9, 2020 – Telenet Group Holding NV (“Telenet” or the “Company”) (Euronext Brussels: TNET) hereby discloses certain information in relation to its share repurchases, in accordance with Article 8:4 of the Royal Decree of 29 April 2019 implementing the Belgian Code on Companies and Associations. The Company currently holds 4,622,777 own shares, representing 4.03% of the total number of outstanding shares.
Shareholder Disbursements
Date(1) | Shareholder Disbursements |
---|---|
December 4, 2020 |
€1.375 per share |
May 2, 2020 |
€1.3050 per share |
December 5, 2019 |
€0.57 per share |
October 2, 2018 |
€5.30 per share |
May 3, 2013 |
€7.90 per share |
May 7, 2012 |
€1.00 per share |
August 28, 2012 |
€3.25 per share |
July 26, 2011 |
€4.50 per share |
July 28, 2010 |
€2.23 per share |
August 27, 2009 |
€0.50 per share |
November 19, 2007 |
€6.00 per share |
1 All dates refer to ex-dividend dates
Shareholder Remuneration Policy
Updated policy with a gross dividend per share floor of €2.75, balancing attractive shareholder distributions and optionality for future value-accretive M&A opportunities
Considering the robust underlying Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion and the healthy Operating Free Cash Flow outlook for both FY 2020 and the 3-year period over 2018-2021, the board of directors has decided to firm up the existing shareholder remuneration policy. Our new policy aims to achieve a balance between attractive shareholder distributions on the one hand, while preserving optionality for future value-accretive M&A opportunities on the other hand. While the 4.0x net total leverage target1 has been reaffirmed in absence of any material acquisitions and/or significant changes in our business or regulatory environment, the board of directors has introduced a dividend floor of €2.75 per share (gross) going forward. This dividend floor assumes no significant changes in our business or regulatory environment and replaces the previously communicated 50-70% pay-out range. With that, the board of directors intends to commit a larger share of the Adjusted Free Cash Flow towards recurring dividends. The remainder of our Adjusted Free Cash Flow may still be considered for accretive acquisitions, extraordinary dividends, incremental share buy-backs, deleveraging or a combination thereof.
Proposed dividend of €2.75 per share, including a €1.375 per share intermediate dividend subject to shareholder approval at the December 2020 Special Shareholders’ Meeting
The board of directors intends to propose a total gross dividend of €2.75 per share (€300.2 million in aggregate2), up 47% from last year's level and representing the upper end of the aforementioned 50-70% range. The board of directors will propose to the Special Shareholders' Meeting in December 2020 to approve the payment of a gross intermediate dividend3 of €1.375 per share (€150.1 million in total2). If and when approved, the intermediate dividend will be paid on December 8, 2020 with the Telenet shares trading ex-dividend on Euronext Brussels as of December 4, 2020.
The aforementioned intermediate dividend is intended to be paid in addition to a gross dividend of €1.375 per share subject to board and shareholder approval at the next AGM and assuming no significant changes in our business or regulatory environment. If and when approved, the latter dividend would then be paid early May next year.
Click here for additional information about our shareholder remuneration policy.
1 Net total leverage is defined as the sum of loans and borrowings under current and non-current liabilities minus cash and cash equivalents ("Net Total Debt"), as recorded in the Company's statement of financial position, divided by the last two quarters' Consolidated Annualized Adjusted EBITDA. In its statement of financial position, Telenet's USD-denominated debt has been converted into € using the September 30, 2020 EUR/USD exchange rate. As Telenet has entered into several derivative transactions to hedge both the underlying floating interest rate and exchange risks, the €-equivalent hedged amounts were €2,041.5 million (USD 2,295.0 million Term Loan AR) and €882.8 million (USD 1.0 billion Senior Secured Notes due 2028), respectively. For the calculation of its net leverage ratio, Telenet uses the €-equivalent hedged amounts given the underlying economic risk exposure. Net total leverage is a non-GAAP measure as contemplated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation G.
2 Based on 109,153,814 dividend-entitled shares outstanding at the date of this release
3 The distributable amounts for the intermediate dividend in December 2020 have been determined on the basis of the 2019 financial statements as per Belgian law