Williams-Sonoma Completes One Stock Repurchase Only To Start Another
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) today announced that it has completed the $60 million stock repurchase program approved in May 2010 and that its Board of Directors has authorized a new $65 million stock repurchase program.
Adrian Bellamy, Chairman of the Board of Directors, commented, “Today, we are pleased to announce that our Board has authorized a new $65 million common stock repurchase program subsequent to the just-completed program. This new $65 million stock repurchase program reflects the Board’s continuing objective to offset dilution from equity compensation programs on an ongoing basis. We anticipate completion of this program by the end of our fiscal year and the approval of a subsequent program thereafter. Including the $60 million share repurchase program we announced in May, the share repurchases authorized this year total $125 million.”
Laura Alber, President and Chief Executive Officer, remarked, “Our decision today to increase the amount of cash we are returning to shareholders has been based upon the continuing improvement in our financial performance, as evidenced by our results over the past several quarters. As we have said before, we are confident in the cash-generating power of our multi-channel, multi-brand business model. Based on this confidence, our strong cash position today, and a projected cash flow that exceeds the funding requirements of our future growth, we believe this is an ideal time to further demonstrate our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders by authorizing this new stock repurchase program.”
This stock repurchase program authorizes the purchase of $65 million of the company’s common stock through open market and privately negotiated transactions, at times and in such amounts as management deems appropriate. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors including price, corporate and regulatory requirements, bank covenant restrictions, capital availability, and other market conditions. The stock repurchase program does not have an expiration date and may be limited or terminated at any time without prior notice. As of August 29, 2010, there were 106,154,500 common shares outstanding.
Under the completed share repurchase program authorized by the Board of Directors in May 2010, a total of 2,317,962 shares of common stock were repurchased and retired at a weighted average cost of $25.88 per share and an aggregate cost of $60 million.
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