Trelleborg´s board proposes synthetic buy-back of own shares

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Dec. 28)—Trelleborg A.B. will convene a special general meeting Jan. 24 to seek approval of a plan to buy back up to 20 million of the company´s shares. The move is in accordance with statements the firm´s board of directors made at the end of the third quarter, and is in addition to the repurchase of 11.7 million shares earlier this year. Should Trelleborg buy back 20 million shares, it would represent an outlay of more than $140 million, based on the current share price. As of Dec. 21, Trelleborg holds 3.97 million shares, or nearly 3.8 percent of the total 105.6 million outstanding shares. If the program is fully utilized, an increase in per-share earnings of about 4 cents is expected, Trelleborg said. Trelleborg earlier said it was taking these actions to normalize the balance sheet and achieve the return on shareholders´ equity goal.