Irish publicly quoted companies are on track to spend an estimated record €6.9 billion buying back their own shares this year, in a sign of confidence over their own prospects, according to Irish Times calculations.
The figure is up from €5.9 billion spent by such Irish companies last year, including companies listed in Dublin, London and New York.
The heightened spend reflects a surge in stock repurchases on both sides of the Atlantic this year, helped by companies generating strong earnings and levels of cash even as the trade tensions cloud the global economic outlook.
AIB tops the list of Irish companies spending money on buybacks, having forked out €1.2 billion repurchasing stock held by the State in May, buoyed by strong profits amid heightened interest rates.
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This accelerated the Government’s exit from the bank’s shareholder register the following month, returning the bank to full private ownership for the first time since its €20.8 billion bailout during the financial crisis.
Building materials giant CRH, which is based in Dublin but has its main stock quotation in the US, has committed to buying at least $1.1 billion (€940 million) buying back shares in repurchase programmes scheduled to run until early November.
It is widely expected to initiate another buyback plan once that has been completed. It has returned over $9 billion (€7.6 billion) to investors since early 2018 through buyback programmes.
Gambling giant Flutter Entertainment, parent of bookmakers Paddy Power, is undertaken to buy back $1 billion (€860 million) of its own stock this year, as its fast-growing US sports betting business drives earnings growth.
Irish clinical trials group Icon, which is listed on Nasdaq, bought back $500 million (€428 million) of shares in the first half of this year. It has board authorisation to double its buyback spend.
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DCC, the conglomerate seeking to narrow its focus to energy, is on track to spend the fifth-largest amount by an Irish company this year on stock repurchases. It is set to buy back £700 million (€810 million) of shares this year, following the completion of the sale of its healthcare division. It also plans another significant shareholder distribution once it sells the remainder of its technology division next year.
US companies are leading the global share buybacks charge this year, having spent $1 trillion so far. The total figure is predicted by analysts to top $1.1 trillion for 2025 as a whole, making a record. The largest contributors to buybacks announced this year are Apple’s $100 billion (€85.4 billion) repurchase programme, followed by Google parent Alphabet, at $70 billion (€59.8 billion), and JP Morgan Chase $50 billion (€42.7 billion) plan.
Buybacks have underpinned global equity markets in 2025, including the Iseq All-Share Index, which has advanced almost 16 per cent so far this year. The S&P 500 on Wall Street has gained 10 per cent and the pan-European Stoxx 600 index had edged almost 8 per cent higher.
They can be an efficient way of returning excess cash to shareholders, especially if boards believe companies’ shares are trading cheaply and offer greater value than pursuing mergers and acquisitions. Using buybacks instead of dividends to return surplus cash can avoid the risk of setting unsustainable expectations for dividends.
Buybacks can also be a more tax-efficient method of returning funds to shareholders than dividends and, when executed properly, can create value for long-term investors.
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However, they can also be used to boost earnings per share, manipulating key metrics used for deciding executive bonus pots.
Ryanair, Bank of Ireland, and Kerry Group have each spent hundreds of millions of euros buying back their own shares this year. Other significant players in this field in 2025 include Malin Corp, Kingspan, and Glanbia.
Smaller programmes are being run by Ires Reit, Grafton Group, C&C, Uniphar, Hostelworld, Glenveagh Properties and FBD.
