Nippon Telegraph and Telephone said it plans to buy back as much as ¥200 billion ($1.4 billion) of its shares, joining a growing list of such measures bolstering the Japanese market.
The buyback will take place from May 12 through March 31 and is geared toward lifting capital efficiency and boost shareholder returns, the company said in a statement on Friday. Shares of Japan’s biggest telecom operator were up about 3.4% as of 1:40 p.m. in Tokyo, off its day’s high of 5.6%.
NTT also forecast full-year operating income and announced quarterly profit that trailed analyst estimates.
The buyback news comes on the heels of a decision to take over NTT Data Group in a deal worth ¥2.37 trillion — a move it said would speed up its ability to make big bets on artificial intelligence.
To date, NTT, which remains about one-third owned by the government, has bought back a total of ¥5.7 trillion of its shares — or about 49% of the total shares issued — through March 2025, according to its website.
More Japanese companies are focusing on capital efficiency following regulatory emphasis on shareholder returns and corporate transparency, triggering a rash of buybacks. In the past two weeks alone, Hitachi said it plans to buy back as much as ¥300 billion worth of its own shares, while Shin-Etsu Chemical announced plans for a buyback worth up to ¥500 billion.
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