Adient repurchased $45 million in shares in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year
Key Facts
Adient repurchased 2,321,910 common shares and immediately retired them during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, for $45 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The average purchase price was $19.38 per share. For fiscal 2026 as a whole, the total number of shares repurchased and retired rose to 4,888,603, at a total cost of $100 million. The company said those shares represented about 6% of shares outstanding at the start of the fiscal year. The figures show that the final-quarter transactions were part of a program that ran throughout the year, with the average purchase price differing between the quarter and the year.
Adient’s board approved an authorization in November 2022 to repurchase up to $600 million in common shares in total, with no expiration date. The authorization allows the company to make purchases within its limit, but does not itself set the timing or volume of any specific purchases. The company said the timing of repurchases depends on market conditions and business needs. In fiscal 2026, the company actually spent $100 million on repurchases, according to its annual filing. The same filing reported an annual average purchase price of $20.46 per share.
The fourth-quarter purchases came as Adient reported a GAAP net loss of $47 million, or $0.62 per diluted share. By contrast, the company recorded adjusted net income of $40 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.52. Adjusted EBITDA was $229 million, with a margin of 6.1%. These metrics are calculated differently, and the company reported the adjusted figures alongside the quarter’s GAAP results. The company also announced its fourth-quarter results and fiscal 2027 outlook on November 4, 2026.
On liquidity, Adient generated free cash flow of $222 million during fiscal 2026. In the fourth quarter, the company repaid $35 million of notes and refinanced 7% secured notes by adding $500 million to its Term Loan B. As of September 30, 2026, total debt was about $2.4 billion and net debt about $1.5 billion, while cash and cash equivalents stood at $886 million. These figures place the share repurchases within the broader picture of the company’s liquidity and debt at fiscal year-end. The announced share purchases remain transactions completed during the period, while the authorization continues to provide a framework for purchases based on market conditions and business needs.
In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, the company reported net income attributable to it of $25 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.32, compared with $36 million and $0.43 per share a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA was $225 million, versus $226 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2025, while the margin declined to 5.7% from 6.0%. Adient said adjusted EBITDA increased $13 million year over year in the third quarter. It attributed the increase to improved production volumes and mix, while material costs, including the impact of the conflict in the Middle East, along with higher overhead expenses and program launch costs related to disruptions at some customers, weighed on results. The company forecast modest improvement in adjusted EBITDA and margin expansion in fiscal 2027 despite an expected slight decline in revenue.