Engineering powerhouse announces £50m share buy-back scheme

A £50m share buy-back programme has been announced by Dowlais, the demerged business from manufacturing giant Melrose.

Engineering group Dowlais hopes to reduce its share capital through the programme and has appointed Investec Bank to conduct the scheme on its behalf.

GKN’s Automotive, Powder Metallurgy and Hydrogen business spun off from the Melrose group and formed into Dowlais last May, becoming an independent and separately listed company by way of a demerger of shares.

Melrose’s focus turned to becoming a pure-play aerospace company, whilst Dowlais effectively became an automotive platform, supplying driveline technologies to the global automotive industry and producing metal powder and precision powder metal parts for the automotive and industrial sectors.

Simon Mackenzie Smith, Chair of Dowlais, said: “The commencement of the £50 million share buyback today forms part of the Board’s focus to maximise the full value of our Group, and its businesses, by considering all available options.

“Our confidence in delivering significant value from Dowlais derives from each of our two market leading businesses, GKN Automotive and Powder Metallurgy, having strong fundamentals”.