LONDON, June 24, 2026, 14:05 BST
- Stock drops 2.3% to 989.8p in London
- The company spent £4.0 million on June 23 to buy back 396,528 shares
- Filings show about 41.7 million shares were purchased for 2026
Prudential plc dropped under £10 on Wednesday, with delayed data showing shares off 2.3% at 989.8 pence. The stock traded between 988.8p and 1,006.5p during the session.
The stock fell more than the London market’s opening action. At 0755 GMT the FTSE 100 was little changed. Property shares traded higher following Segro’s rejection of a $16.6 billion offer.
Prudential picked up 396,528 shares in London on Tuesday for £4.0 million at a VWAP of £10.0899, according to a filing dated June 24. VWAP weights trades by size. The same filing showed Prudential bought 395,188 shares Monday at a VWAP of £10.0722. Both purchases were still pending cancellation. The insurer also cancelled 396,677 older shares, which dropped its issue count to 2.513 billion.
The company had already picked up 40.95 million shares under the 2026 programme at an average 1,102.5252p through June 19. With trades from June 22 and June 23, that figure rises to around 41.7 million shares bought for about £459 million, average price close to 1,101p. The stock on Wednesday was trading about 10% under that.
Prudential kicked off the programme Jan. 6 and expects to wrap it by Dec. 18. The amount stands at $1.2 billion, split between $500 million in recurring capital returns and $700 million raised from the IPO of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company. Prudential said the speed and timing of buybacks will depend on market conditions.
The stock was trading at 989.8p, down roughly 20% from its 52-week peak of 1,238p. Market cap sat at £24.7 billion. By early afternoon, around 3.94 million shares had changed hands.
Prudential’s new business profit for the first quarter rose almost 10% at constant exchange rates to $686 million. Hong Kong posted double-digit growth, and it’s expected to be the top profit contributor in 2025. “We remain confident in delivering double-digit growth across our key financial metrics in 2026 and achieving our 2027 financial objectives,” CEO Anil Wadhwani said in April. Reuters
Hong Kong is still the big risk for that view. Beijing’s tougher rules on money leaving the country have hit Prudential and rival AIA, both of which get business from mainland Chinese clients. “The biggest problem is that you never know how far the crackdown on cross-border capital flow can go,” said Gary Ng, senior Asia-Pacific economist at Natixis, this month. Reuters
