Sysco plans to repurchase 20 million shares

Sysco Corp, the Houston TX-based foodservice marketer and distributor, has announced a share repurchase program. The firm’s board of directors has agreed for the company to buy back 20 million shares, making this the company’s 14th share buyback program since 1992.

A repurchase of 20 million shares announced in November 2005 has roughly 1.8 million shares remaining. Sysco says these shares will be repurchased before the new buyback program begins.

Richard J Schnieders, Sysco chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We consider our share repurchase program an important part of our investments. For the last 15 years, we have been able to return a total of approximately $8.2 billion to shareholders, consisting of approximately $5.2 billion in share repurchases and approximately $2.9 billion in dividend payouts.”