TBC Bank Approves Share Buyback of Up to 50 Million Lari for Cancellation
Key Facts
TBC Bank Group’s board approved an open-market share buyback program worth up to 50 million Georgian lari, with the shares bought under the program to be cancelled. The group announced the decision on November 6, 2026, setting a financial ceiling for purchases rather than a confirmed commitment to execute the full amount. The program is expected to start on the same day and continue through February 28, 2027. The board also set a cap of 5,572,679 shares that could be bought. The decision comes as the group reported results for the third quarter and first nine months of the year.
Alongside the program intended to cancel shares, the group announced separate funding of up to 50 million lari for the employee benefits fund to buy additional shares. These purchases are scheduled to begin on November 9, 2026, and are intended to meet future employee entitlements. The announcement thus separates two purchase channels: an open-market share buyback program in which the resulting shares will be cancelled, and fund purchases linked to future entitlements. The fund’s funding cap is additional to the maximum announced for the core program, while each channel retains its own purpose and timing. The announcement did not specify, in the available details, how many additional shares the fund would buy.
The announcement follows the group’s reporting net profit of 404 million lari in the third quarter of 2026, up 10% year on year, according to CEO Vakhtang Butskhrikidze in the results report. Net profit for the nine months ended September 30 was 1,155 million lari, up 12% from the same period a year earlier. Butskhrikidze described third-quarter profit as “record,” also citing a return on equity of 23.2%. The results for both periods provide financial context for the buyback announcement on the day the third-quarter results were published, without the available announcement linking the profits to the decision as a cause. The CEO also said the group was well positioned to meet its financial targets for 2026-28.
At the revenue level, total operating income rose 10% year on year in the third quarter to 961 million lari, while net interest margin was 7.4%. Gross loans grew 16% year on year on a constant-currency basis to 32.5 billion lari. Customer deposits also increased 14% on the same basis, to 27.6 billion lari. These figures show growth in both assets and deposits during the quarter, alongside higher operating income. They are operating indicators reported in the results published on the same day the buyback program was announced.
The board also approved a quarterly dividend of 1.75 lari per share for the third quarter of 2026. Total dividends for the first nine months amounted to 5.25 lari per share, up 5% year on year. On asset quality, the non-performing loan ratio was stable at 3.3% of total loans, compared with the previous quarter. The cost of risk fell 0.3 percentage points quarter on quarter to 1.3%. These data place dividends and risk indicators alongside the share purchase decision among the group’s announced decisions and figures for the period.
The group had previously proposed total dividends of 8.87 lari per share for 2025, with a payout ratio of 35%, or 40% when a 75 million lari share buyback program was included. This provides a stated precedent for using buybacks as part of the mix of capital distributions to shareholders, though the current program differs in value and specified duration. In the current announcement, the decision provides for cancellation of shares bought under the core program, while the separate funding is allocated to the employee benefits fund. The next steps under the announced schedule are for the program to start on November 6 and continue through February 28, 2027, with fund purchases starting on November 9.