Novo Nordisk continues share repurchase programme

Novo Nordisk has announced details of its ongoing share repurchase programme, with the firm purchasing 3,437,400 B shares from Novo worth 2.1 billion Danish kroner (190.9 million pounds).

This purchase is part of its continuing 10 billion Danish kroner repurchase programme set out for the company for 2006-2008.

Following this repurchase, Novo’s ownership of Novo Nordisk has been re-adjusted to 25.5 per cent – the level it was before treasury shares in the firm were cancelled in June 2007.

The price paid for each of the shares – 608.13 Danish kroner – was the average market price for the stock from 3rd August 2007 to 9th August 2007 following the publication of the company’s financial results for the first half of the 2007 fiscal year.

Henrik Gurtler, chief executive officer of Novo, said: “Following the recent cancellation of treasury shares, Novo has re-aligned its shareholding in Novo Nordisk to the level of just over 25 per cent, which has been our target since the demerger of Novozymes in 2000.”

He added that following this transaction, Novo remains committed to its position as a majority shareholder of Novo Nordisk in the long term.

In May 2007, Novo Nordisk reported a ten per cent increase in sales for the quarter ended March 2007, with revenues reaching 9,818 million Danish kroner.