Asbury (NYSE:ABG) Automotive Group, Inc. (ABG) (the “Company”), one of the largest automotive retail and service companies in the U.S., today announced its board of directors approved a new authorization to repurchase up to $250 million shares of the Company’s common stock.
“We believe we are a prudent steward of capital. We evaluate on a periodic and ongoing basis our alternate uses of capital – whether it be reduction of leverage, growth through acquisitions, reinvestment in our business or repurchase of shares – to achieve what we believe will generate the best returns for our shareholders over the long-term. We fully exhausted our authorization under our prior stock repurchase program opportunistically. The new authorization reflects our renewed commitment to a key pillar of our balanced capital allocation approach, bolstered by our strong cash flow and balance sheet,” said David Hult, Asbury’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
Year-to-date 2023, the Company has repurchased approximately 1.1 million shares for approximately $211 million. The Company has no remaining availability to repurchase shares of common stock under the previously announced stock repurchase program.
Under the new stock repurchase program, the shares of common stock of the Company may be purchased from time to time in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions or in other manners as permitted by federal securities laws and other legal and contractual requirements. The extent to which the Company repurchases its shares, the number of shares and the timing of any repurchase will depend on such factors as Asbury’s stock price, general economic and market conditions, the potential impact on its capital structure, the expected return on competing uses of capital such as strategic dealership acquisitions and capital investments and other considerations. The new program does not require the Company to repurchase any specific number of shares, and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time without further notice.