Next to a paying a regular annual dividend, SAP has employed share repurchases for several years to continuously return excess cash to shareholders. Accordingly, SAP repurchases shares primarily for purposes of redemption and - to a lower extent - meeting its obligations arising from stock based compensation programs.
As of September 30, 2008, SAP has spent a total of approximately €3.65 billion to repurchase SAP shares since the inception of its share buybacks.
| Period |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
Q1-Q3 08 |
Share buyback
(€ million) |
88.2 |
141.4 |
417.0 |
1,141.6 |
1,004.7 |
486.8 |
Share buyback
(millions of shares) |
4.2 |
4.5 |
12.9 |
27.9 |
27.3 |
14.6 |
Average repurchase price during period
(€) |
21.01 |
31.37 |
32.44 |
40.97 |
36.85 |
33.34 |
Own shares redeemed during period
(millions of shares) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
23.0 |
21.0 |
Treasury stock at period end
(€ million) |
461.6 |
569.2 |
775.3 |
1,741.8 |
1,733.8 |
1,369.5 |
Treasury stock at period end
(millions of shares) |
18.3 |
21.5 |
26.7 |
49.3 |
48.1 |
38.7 |
Average repurchase price of shares in treasury stock at period end
(€) |
25.28 |
26.53 |
29.02 |
35.37 |
36.07 |
35.43 |
Total shares outstanding at period end, excluding treasury stock
(millions of shares) |
1,243.4 |
1,242.6 |
1,239.1 |
1,218.3 |
1,198.2 |
1,187.1 |