Vietjet has paid nearly US$101 million to buy back 17.77 million of its shares on the stock market. -- Photo vietjetair.com.vn

Budget airline Vietjet (VJC) has repurchased 17.77 million shares of the company on the stock market, equivalent to nearly 3.3 per cent of the airline’s charter capital, the company said.

This number of shares was lower than its initial buyback plan of 25 million shares.

The average buying price was VND132,062 (US$5.67) per share which meant the airline spent nearly VND2.35 trillion (roughly $101 million) on the buyback.

In its filing to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the company attributed the reason for not buying the number of registered shares to inadequate liquidity in the market.

After the purchase, outstanding Vietjet shares decreased from 541.6 million to 532.84 million.

According to market analysis, the current price of Vietjet’s shares is at a good range for the company to invest.

Many securities companies have reckoned Vietjet’s shares would be included in the portfolios of the two exchange-traded funds – FTSE Vietnam UCITS ETF and VanEck Vectors Vietnam ETF – in their last quarter restructuring this week.

Shares of the company dropped 0.3 per cent on Thursday to VND132,000 a share.

In the first half of this year, the airline reported an increase of nearly 24 per cent in total revenue to VND23.6 trillion and 4.3 per cent rise in net profit of VND2.08 trillion.

In recent times, many big companies and banks have registered to buy back a large number of treasury shares to stabilise their prices in the stock market.

Ho Chi Minh Development Bank (HDB) are seeking shareholders’ opinions on buying back shares with a maximum rate of 5 per cent of its total outstanding shares. Meanwhile, Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB) approved a repurchase plan of up to 10 per cent of its total shares.

In March, Military Bank (MBB) bought back 47 million shares out of its total 108 million shares. – VNS