Hyundai Motor to buy back $716 million in shares to enhance shareholder value

Hyundai Motor said on Wednesday it will buy back 1 trillion won ($716 million) worth of its own shares as part of efforts to boost its shareholder value.

In the buyback plan approved by the board of directors, Hyundai will repurchase 4.66 million shares, worth 1 trillion won, within a three-month period starting Thursday, the company said in a regulatory filing.

They account for 1.7 per cent of the company's overall listed shares. Hyundai said the purpose of the repurchase is to enhance shareholder value, reports Yonhap news agency.

Reducing the number of shares in circulation increases the profitability per share and consequently raises the stock price, thus benefiting shareholders.

In August, Hyundai Motor announced a value-up plan to buy back 4 trillion won worth of its own shares over the next three years.

Meanwhile, Jose Munoz, the global chief operating officer of Hyundai Motor who has been tapped as the company's next CEO, has stressed the importance of flexibility in managing its product portfolio in the United States amid looming uncertainties under a second Donald Trump administration.

Munoz was appointed to serve as the automaker's CEO starting next year as part of major executive appointments across units within Hyundai Motor Group.

In other affiliates, Kia, the country's second-largest automaker, promoted Choi Jun-young, currently vice president of domestic production division, to president. Lee Kyu-bok, vice president and CEO of logistics affiliate Hyundai Glovis Co., was also promoted to president.

The appointment of the company's first non-Korean CEO comes as Hyundai and its affiliate Kia brace for a tumultuous future in their American operations, especially as Trump's transition team reportedly aims to get rid of the electric vehicle (EV) tax credit program, part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) introduced under the incumbent Joe Biden administration.