Samsung Electronics considering share buybacks: Korea Economic Daily

Giant tech company Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is planning to buy back its own shares as a strategy by the South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group to increase shareholder value.

In a report by Korea Economic Daily Thursday, chief financial officers from different Samsung Group firms discussed shareholder return policies on Wednesday and considered share buybacks as one of the major options for the advancement of the company.  

According to Reuters, Samsung's share price dropped 3.6 percent this year as it struggles to reverse the downward slope of its market share and margin, especially on its handset business, which is in tight competition against Chinese manufacturers and the iPhones.

Meanwhile, The Economic Times reported that the company recently completed in January a 2.45 trillion won ($2.15 billion) buyback programme. This is the first buyback the company made since 2007.

According to Bloomberg Business, Analysts are expecting Samsung to buy back shares early this month. This move will take out more than $1 billion of stock from the market, leading to a 20 percent increase in shares. This will potentially help the company avoid the possible decline this year. Samsung lost $22 billion in market value this year due to the poor sales of the S6 and Note 5 devices.

Dongbu Security Co.'s Yoo Eui Hyung said, "A share buyback should happen anytime now because the earnings haven't been performing well."

Samsung is also set to release its third-quarter operating profit and sales projection on Wednesday. That period was when the S6 and curved-screen S6 Edge devices where recently released. Analysts expect a 6.7 trillion won profit during that period.

That may be higher than the 4.1 trillion won in the same period last year, but it is still 34 percent smaller than the record 10.2 trillion won in 2013. Meanwhile, Samsung shares increased 3.2 percent to 1,151,000 won, trimming its decline this year to only 13 percent.