SAP: to buy back shares, raises dividend

(CercleFinance.com) - SAP on Thursday said that its board has approved a 1.
5 billion euro share repurchase program, with the company also increasing its quarterly dividend by just over 5%.

The German enterprise software maker said that it is raising its dividend to 1.58 euro per share for fiscal year 2019, representing an increase of 8 cents from last year's dividend of 1.50 euro.

Its supervisory board also approved an executive board decision, which plans to use the entire 1.5 billion euros of capital return for 2020 exclusively to buy back shares.

Last November, SAP announced that it would enhance capital return in addition to the regular dividend and repurchase shares and/or issue a special dividend, representing a combined volume of 1.5 billion euros.

The share buyback program will begin today and be completed by 31 December, SAP said.

The Frankfurt-listed shares were down 1% on Thursday after rising by almost 1.8% yesterday.

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