Teleios Capital Partners, a hedge fund based in Zug in Switzerland, saw its stake in Glenveagh Properties nudge above the 23 per cent level this week as a result of the home builder’s ongoing programme to buy back and cancel stock.
The firm first announced its arrival on the Irish company’s shareholder register in March 2020 as its stake breached the 3 per cent threshold where it is required to disclose a holding.
It continued to buy shares until October 2023, when it breached the 22 per cent stake. Its stake has also been enhanced over the past four years by multiple stock buyback programmes undertaken by Glenveagh.
Glenveagh handed over almost €350 million to investors repurchasing shares between 2021 and January 8th of this year. It had room to spend a further €32 million as of that date, after deciding to increase the size of an ongoing buyback programme.
The stated investment style of Teleios, which was founded 12 years ago, is to take long-term stakes in a “concentrated portfolio” of small to mid-sized European companies and seek to “create sustainable value for all shareholders”, according to its website. However, it has also been known on occasion to publicly air grievances with the leadership of companies in which it has invested.
Glenveagh, led by chief executive Stephen Garvey, has avoided this – helped, no doubt, by appointing Teleios partner Max Steinebach to its board 12 months ago.
The stock has advanced more than 30 per cent over the same period, making it one of the best performing companies on Dublin’s Iseq as it continued to build scale in a market where housing supply is chronically short of demand.
[ Housing completions fall short of 2024 Government target of 40,000 unitsOpens in new window ]
The share buy-backs have, in the meantime, allowed the group shift excess capital from its balance sheet and improve its profitability, measured as return on equity.
The group said two weeks ago that its operating profit rose 86 per cent last year to €132 million, as its house sales and revenues powered ahead. Earnings per share (EPS) more than doubled to 17 cent and the group forecast that it will rise to 19.5 cent this year, more than 4 per cent above what analysts, on average, had been expecting.
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