share buy back activity, page-4

Yesterday's buyback was 1mill shares, and I suspect this will fluctuate but eventually drop as share price stabilizes.

miki29, share buybacks are usually put into operation when shares are undervalued (slightly props up the price short term) and as a way to reward shareholder indirectly. A buyback is the opposite of share dilution, so potentially rewards shareholders with higher share values (P/E ratio increases) and higher dividends (more div per share without increasing the total cash for dividends).

Still, plenty of debate about value of buybacks.

S1mon, a dividend cut is a good question. Investors (I think the analyst report is Morningstar) thinks the dividend will be cut to 3 cents/sh in FY13. I'm not so sure, for two reasons. First, EHL predicts $23-26M NPAT for 1st half and 2nd half might be same or better (my guess). Second, EHL's dividend has been 4.5 cents/sh or more since 2007, when NPAT was lower. Either Morningstar (Investors) predicts EHL losses (they don't) or they have sloppy analysts. (Hint: the report incorrectly stated FY11 dividend of 5 cents; it was 10 cents due to the special 5 cent dividend.)

Just my views/predictions. Please do your own research.