- DCC’s £100 million scheme means 45 FTSE 100 firms have already announced buybacks worth £36.7 billion in 2025
- This compares to the £57.1 billion bought back in 2024 by a record 53 firms
- The all-time high for buybacks is £58.2 billion in 2022
- Banks and oils remain key swing factors in the ultimate total for this year
“Bunzl may have cancelled its proposed buyback and Next put its scheme on hold, but DCC is adding to the list of FTSE 100 firms that are returning cash to their shareholders via this mechanism, with a new £100 million programme for 2025,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“The support services group is also hinting at further cash returns once the €1.1 billion sale of its healthcare operation concludes, and this could add to the FTSE 100 buyback tally, which already stands at £36.7 billion for 2025, compared to the £57.1 billion total reached in 2024 and 2022’s all-time high of £58.2 billion.
“This is DCC’s first buyback foray, and it becomes the forty-fifth FTSE 100 firm to buy back stock in this calendar year. Fifty-three members of the UK’s premier stock index used this mechanism in 2024.
Source: Company accounts. *2025E as announced to date.
“The current £36.7 billion buyback tally equates to 1.6% of the FTSE 100’s £2.25 trillion market capitalisation and takes the total cash return from the index, including analysts’ forecast £83.6 billion in dividend payments, to £120.3 billion for a cash yield of 5.3%.
“Even though that figure has yet to get an extra lift from special dividends or takeovers, as it did in 2024, it still handily beats the yield available from government bonds, cash and also inflation, so it may help to persuade investors that the UK stock market is a worthy home for their capital, especially if they are seeking income.
Source: Company accounts. *2025E as announced to date.
“There is also upside potential to the 2025 buybacks figure, given the quarterly programmes run by oil and gas majors Shell and BP and also the prospect of further cash returns via this mechanism from the Big Five banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Standard Chartered).
“A repeat of their first-half programmes would see BP and Shell put a further £7.4 billion into the pot, while analysts’ consensus forecasts still expect the banks to buy back £15.5 billion worth of shares in 2025, even though they have announced just £7.7 billion in purchases so far this year.
Source: Company accounts. *2025E as announced to date.
“Equally, there may yet be downside risks. Bunzl cancelled its share buyback scheme for this year in the wake of April’s profit warning with £85 million of the planned £200 million total unspent.
“Next put its scheme on hold not because something had gone wrong, but everything had continued to go right, with the result that the share price exceeded the level at which the board felt buybacks were value accretive to shareholders.
“Oil price weakness could yet slow down the rate of buybacks at the oils, too. Shell’s first-quarter cash flow was robust, but BP’s first-quarter statement did not offer as much support for lavish buybacks as some of its shareholders would like (most notably Elliott).
Source: Company accounts
Source: Company accounts
“As such investors must remain vigilant and continue to do their research as they seek out income plays, especially as the global macroeconomic outlook remains uncertain in a world where global supply chains and shipping routes currently seem to be at the mercy of a presidential social media post.”
