Kindred Group begins share buyback
The share repurchasing scheme will run until next year’s AGM.
Sweden.- Kindred Group Plc has informed investors that its share buyback mandate has begun as of August 1. The mandate was approved at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on June 10 and is expected to run until the operator’s next AGM, which will probably take place in May next year.
Buyback transactions are limited to the maximum repurchase of 23 million shares and that company holdings will not surpass 10 per cent of total outstanding shareholding at any time. Kindred currently holds 9.96 million out of 230 million shares.
The group said in a statement: “The board of directors of Kindred Group plc has, empowered by a mandate received at the Extraordinary General Meeting on 10 June 2022, decided to initiate a share buy-back programme.
“The purpose of the programme is to return excess cash to the shareholders in line with Kindred’s distribution policy.”
The terms of the scheme will comply with the Nasdaq Nordic Main Market Rulebook for Stockholm Nasdaq-listed companies as well as with Malta’s Companies Act. It comes amid speculation about the group’s future. The US activist fund Corvex LP has accumulated a 10 per cent holding in the company and is now its second-biggest shareholder.
Fashion designer sues Kindred Group
Media outlets in Sweden are reporting on what looks set to be a high-profile legal case against the online gambling operator Kindred Group. The fashion designer and entrepreneur Per Holknekt has reportedly filed a lawsuit at the Stockholm District Court.
According to Expressen.se, Holknekt, who is best known as the founder of the Odd Molly clothing line and for featuring in the first season of Sweden’s Big Brother, alleges that the Stockholm-listed online gaming company and its Swedish subsidiary Spooniker Ltd fuelled his gambling addiction.
He is reportedly seeking SEK 10m (€1m) in damages, claiming that his gambling “spiralled out of control” due to Kindred’s products. He says that in just eight years he bet SEK 55m and lost SEK 26m on Kindred’s Unibet alone.
The case is a PR blow for Kindred, which has made much of its transparency with regard to problem gambling. Its annual sustainability report estimates how much of its revenue comes from harmful gambling – a figure it aims to reduce to 0 per cent by 2023.
Earlier this month, Kindred’s Unibet went live in the Netherlands after a six-month absence while it awaited a licence to operate on the newly regulated market. It had an issue with bonuses on launch.
