Rapala share buy-back could provide funding for possible acquisitions

Rapala VMC initiated the buy-back of a maximum of two million of its own shares at the company‘s recent Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The purpose of the repurchase programme is to develop the company’s capital structure and/or to use the shares for potential corporate acquisitions or other business ventures. The proposed number of shares corresponds to approximately 5.1% of the company’s registered shares at the time of the proposal. 

The maximum amount to be used for the buy-back is €700,000 and the shares will be acquired in public trading on the Nasdaq Helsinki at the market price at the time of repurchase. In addition, the AGM authorised the Board to decide on a share issue of up to 3.9 million shares, effective until September 2022.

Rapala established two new share-based incentive plans at the meeting. The President and CEO’s share plan covers financial years 2021-2023 and gives Nicolas Warchalowski the opportunity to receive matching shares for his personal investment in Rapala VMC shares. No reward is paid if the CEO‘s director contract expires before the reward payment is due.

The key employees share plan covers the same period and is based on the Group’s financial performance and share price criteria.

The Group re-elected Louis d’Alançon as Chairman of the Board of directors. Other members of the six-strong board to be re-elected were former CEO, Jorma Kasslin, Marc Speeckaert, Emmanual Viellard, Julia Aubertin and Vesa Luhtanen.