IAG, Iberia’s parent company, earns 2.340 million until September and announces a 350 million share buyback

We must remember that last year was historic, with a profit after tax of €2.655 million, multiplying the 2022 results by six. Of course, this is due to the improvement in capacity following the post-Covid recovery.

In turn, profit before tax reached 2.955 million euros, or 13% more, and operating profit increased by 10.5% to 3.322 million euros.

Additionally, the group explained, operational passenger capacity, measured in passenger kilometers offered (AKO), increased by 6.9% compared to the same period in 2023, and Billing, in turn, increased by 8.2% and reached 24.053 million euros.

Total operating expenses were 7.8% higher than the previous year at €20.731 million.

Announces share repurchase program

At the same time as this announcement, the company launched a €350 million share buyback program to reduce its share capital. It is important to remember that a stock buyback is an operation in which a company purchases its own shares in order to subsequently remove them from the market.

As IAG told the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), Goldman Sachs Bank Europe and Morgan Stanley Europe will implement the program in successive tranches, acting on behalf of IAG and making all trading decisions independently based on some already defined parameters.

There will be no changes because Qatar Airways Group, the company’s largest shareholder, will maintain its position since it has agreed to participate in the program in proportion to its current participation, which is 25.143%.

To do this, it undertook not to sell IAG shares on the market during the program, but to offer the banks a number of shares proportional to the number of shares purchased on the market in each session, and at a price per share equivalent to the average price weighted by the volume at which they traded them that day.

The program will begin on November 11, 2024 and end by February 28, 2025. It is expected to purchase up to 319,447,282 shares, which is 6.426% of the company’s authorized capital.