Northrop Grumman plans to retire a quarter of the company’s outstanding shares by 2015 after announcing a US$4bn stock buyback. The defence and aerospace giant stated that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of US$4bn of its common…
Northrop Grumman plans to retire a quarter of the company’s outstanding shares by 2015 after announcing a US$4bn stock buyback.
The defence and aerospace giant stated that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of US$4bn of its common shares. This is in addition to the US$1bn that remains available to be repurchased under its previous programme, which was itself increased on several occasions in 2012.
In the first quarter of 2013, Northrop spent US$456m repurchasing 6.5 million shares. As of 31 March 2013, the company had approximately 235 million shares outstanding.
The move is part of a concerted effort by the group to return some of its cash to shareholders. On the day before the share buyback announcement, Northrop revealed that it was increasing its dividend by 11% to US$0.61 per share.
Wes Bush, Northrop’s chairman, chief executive officer and president, commented: “Today’s action and yesterday’s dividend increase reflect confidence in our performance and our belief that our share repurchase program continues to create value for our shareholders.”
On 15 May, Northrop Grumman revealed that it had successfully completed a ground demonstration of a communication system that would allow the US Air Force’s B-2 stealth bomber to operate with the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite network.
The end-to-end tests prove the technologies required to begin full-scale development of a new satellite communications system.
Northrop Grumman is the Air Force’s prime contractor for the B-2.
