ICG jumps 9% on buyback move

Irish Continental Group’s share price jumped by over 9% yesterday on the back of management proposing a return of up to €111.5m to shareholders via its latest share buyback move.

The increase — at one point the biggest daily upward move for ICG in three years — came despite the Dublin-headquartered ferries and freight services group reporting a 21.5% drop in first-half profits and a revenue increase of only 0.4%.

ICG management explained its latest share buy-back proposition — it paid out a combined €10m to buy back 700,000 shares in June — as being “the most effective use of shareholder funds”.