Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED SHAREHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
General
The capitalized terms used in Part II of this Annual Report on Form 10-K are defined in the notes to our consolidated financial statements. In the following text, the terms “we,” “our,” “our company” and “us” may refer, as the context requires, to Liberty Global or collectively to Liberty Global and its subsidiaries.
Market Information
Our share capital comprises Liberty Global Class A, Class B and Class C ordinary shares, which trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbols “LBTYA,” “LBTYB,” and “LBTYK,” respectively. Share price information for securities traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market can be found on the Nasdaq’s website at www.nasdaq.com.
The following table sets forth the quarterly range of high and low sales prices of Liberty Global Class B ordinary shares for 2022 and 2021. Although Liberty Global Class B ordinary shares are traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, an established public trading market does not exist for the shares, as they are not actively traded.
Liberty Global Class B ordinary shares
High Low
2022
First quarter $ 30.30 $ 23.55
Second quarter $ 26.20 $ 21.39
Third quarter $ 23.59 $ 16.62
Fourth quarter $ 20.99 $ 16.30
2021
First quarter $ 36.11 $ 22.58
Second quarter $ 38.89 $ 25.00
Third quarter $ 31.00 $ 26.15
Fourth quarter $ 30.85 $ 26.76
Holders
As of January 31, 2023, there were 1,225, five and 1,390 record holders of Liberty Global Class A, Class B and Class C ordinary shares, respectively. These amounts do not include the number of shareholders whose shares are nominally held by banks, brokerage houses or other institutions, but include each such institution as one record holder.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on any of our ordinary shares, and we have no present intention of doing so. Any future payment of cash dividends will be determined by our board of directors in light of our earnings, financial condition and other relevant considerations, including applicable laws in England and Wales.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities
None.
II-1
Issuer Purchase of Equity Securities
The following table sets forth information regarding our company’s purchase of its own equity securities during the three months ended December 31, 2022:
Period Total number
of shares
purchased Average
price
paid per
share (a) Total number
of shares purchased as part of publicly-announced plans or programs Value of shares that may yet be repurchased under the plans or programs
October 1, 2022 through October 31, 2022:
Class A — — — (b)
Class C 6,634,155 17.38 6,634,155 (b)
November 1, 2022 through November 30, 2022:
Class A — — — (b)
Class C — — — (b)
December 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022:
Class A — — — (b)
Class C — — — (b)
Total — October 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022:
Class A — — — (b)
Class C 6,634,155 17.38 6,634,155 (b)
_______________
(a) Average price paid per share includes direct acquisition costs.
(b) Under our current repurchase program that was approved in July 2021, we are authorized during 2023 to repurchase 10% of our total outstanding shares as of the beginning of the year, or approximately 45.9 million shares. Based on the respective closing share prices as of December 30, 2022, this would equate to total share repurchases of approximately $0.9 billion. However, the actual U.S. dollar amount of our share repurchases during 2023 will be determined by the actual transaction date share prices during the year and could differ significantly from this amount.
II-2
Stock Performance Graph
The following graph compares the changes in the cumulative total shareholder return on our Liberty Global Class A, Class B and Class C ordinary shares from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2022, to the change in the cumulative total returns of the Nasdaq US Benchmark Telecom TR Index and the Nasdaq US Benchmark TR Index (assuming reinvestment of dividends, where applicable). The graph assumes that $100 was invested on January 1, 2018.
December 31,
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Liberty Global - Class A
$ 59.54 $ 63.45 $ 67.58 $ 77.40 $ 52.82
Liberty Global - Class B
$ 59.07 $ 63.97 $ 68.97 $ 79.21 $ 53.45
Liberty Global - Class C
$ 60.99 $ 64.42 $ 69.89 $ 83.01 $ 57.42
Nasdaq US Benchmark Telecom TR Index $ 93.18 $ 117.75 $ 129.33 $ 136.23 $ 105.87
Nasdaq US Benchmark TR Index
$ 94.56 $ 124.03 $ 150.41 $ 189.36 $ 152.00
II-3
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.