LONDON, July 7, 2026, 20:02 BST
- Prudential plc dropped 1.06% after London trading, while the FTSE 100 picked up 0.13%.
- The company bought 794,515 shares for cancellation in its latest buyback filing, covering June 29 and 30.
- Prudential has picked up 43.7 million shares since Jan. 6, paying an average 1,096.2799p. That’s roughly 6% higher than where the stock closed on Tuesday.
- Q1 new business profit was up 10% at $686 million, with the buyback gap still a focus for per-share returns.
Prudential plc LON:PRU dropped after Tuesday’s London close, erasing most of the prior day’s gains. The latest buyback figures showed the insurer buying back shares at an average price above where the stock is trading—a detail getting more attention from investors. Hargreaves Lansdown quoted Prudential at 1,033.00p to sell and 1,033.50p to buy, down 11p, or 1.06%. Volume came in at 5.6 million shares. The FTSE 100 added 0.13%.
Prudential climbed 1.51% to £10.41 on Monday, outperforming the FTSE 100, MarketWatch data showed. About 3.3 million shares traded—less than the 50-day average of 9.4 million.
Prudential said Monday it picked up 794,515 ordinary shares on June 29 and June 30 using JP Morgan Securities and then cancelled them. The average price for the two days came in around 1,005.6p, which is under Tuesday’s quoted price. But the average across the full 2026 programme is still higher. The company has bought 43,737,014 shares since starting the programme on Jan. 6, paying a volume-weighted average of 1,096.2799p.
| Market and buyback marker | Latest figure |
|---|---|
| Prudential bid/ask | 1,033.00p / 1,033.50p |
| Tuesday move | -11.00p / -1.06% |
| Tuesday turnover | 5,587,526 shares |
| Most recent buyback | 794,515 shares |
| Bought since Jan. 6 | 43,737,014 shares |
| Programme avg. price | 1,096.2799p |
The gap is notable because Prudential’s capital return is now making a dent in the share count as the market waits for the next update. Using the company’s average price, the buyback has run to about £479 million so far. That’s around 1.9% of the £25.69 billion market cap reported Tuesday by Hargreaves Lansdown. The number of shares repurchased is roughly 1.7% of the 2.51 billion shares currently out.
| Buyback calculation | Result |
|---|---|
| Cash used since Jan. 6 | about £479 mln |
| Shares bought as % of current total | about 1.7% |
| Programme average price vs Tuesday’s sell quote | about 6.1% higher |
| Two-day buyback VWAP vs Tuesday’s mid-quote | about 2.7% lower |
Prudential said it started a buyback for up to $1.2 billion and wants to wrap it up by Dec. 18. The company put the size at about 3% of its issued share capital, based on the Jan. 5 close. Prudential plans to use $500 million from recurring capital returns and $700 million from the net proceeds of the ICICI Prudential Asset Management IPO to fund the programme.
Chief Executive Anil Wadhwani said at the launch that Prudential is sticking to its goal of “creating long-term shareholder value” by pushing for growth and delivering shareholder returns. Prudential
The buyback stands out against this backdrop. Prudential reported in April that first-quarter new business profit rose 10% at constant exchange rates to $686 million. APE sales were up 6% at $1.82 billion. New business margin improved to 38% from 36%. CEO Wadhwani said the quarter saw “double digit new business profit growth.” Prudential
| Q1 metric | 2026 | 2025 | CER change |
|---|---|---|---|
| New business profit | $686 mln | $625 mln | +10% |
| APE sales | $1.823 bln | $1.725 bln | +6% |
| New business margin | 38% | 36% | +2 ppts |
Prudential said it bought back around 20 million shares for $312 million in the first quarter. A new filing shows the total has now more than doubled, even as the share price slipped under the program’s average buyback price.
Prudential offers life and health insurance and manages assets in Greater China, ASEAN, India and Africa. The group is listed mainly in Hong Kong HKG:2378 and London, with additional listings in Singapore and on the New York market.
