Equity and dividends

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Equity and dividends

Equity and dividends

23.   Equity and dividends

Share capital

Common stock

Unlimited number of common shares, without par value.

Preferred stock

Unlimited number of senior preferred shares, without par value, issuable in series.

Unlimited number of junior preferred shares, without par value, issuable in series.

All issued shares are fully paid. No preferred shares have been issued.

Shares issued for business combination

In connection with the acquisition of Rouse, the Company issued 312,193 common shares on December 8, 2020. These shares were issued to certain previous unitholders and employees of Rouse, and their vesting is subject to continuing employment with the Company over a three year period from the acquisition date. The fair value of these common shares was $71.09 based on the fair market value of the Company’s common shares on the date of acquisition.

As at December 31, 2020, the unrecognized share-based continuing employment costs were $19,933,000, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 2 years. As at December 31, 2020, the number of common shares which had not yet vested was 312,193.

Subsequent to December 31, 2020, 55,510 shares were forfeited and as such the revised unrecognized share-based continuing employment costs was $17,225,000.

Share repurchase

There were 1,525,312 common shares repurchased for $53,170,000 during the year ended December 31, 2020. There were 1,223,674 common shares repurchased for $42,012,000 in the year ended December 2019 and no common shares repurchased in the year ended 2018.

23.   Equity and dividends (continued)

Dividends

Declared and paid

The Company declared and paid the following dividends during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018:

		Dividend			Total
	Declaration date	per share		Record date	dividends		Payment date
Year ended December 31, 2020:
Fourth quarter 2019	January 24, 2020	$	0.2000	February 14, 2020	$	21,905	March 6, 2020
First quarter 2020	May 6, 2020		0.2000	May 27, 2020		21,681	June 17, 2020
Second quarter 2020	August 5, 2020		0.2200	August 26, 2020		24,053	September 16, 2020
Third quarter 2020	November 4, 2020		0.2200	November 25, 2020		24,098	December 16, 2020
Year ended December 31, 2019:
Fourth quarter 2018	January 25, 2019	$	0.1800	February 15, 2019	$	19,568	March 8, 2019
First quarter of 2019	May 8, 2019		0.1800	May 29, 2019		19,592	June 19, 2019
Second quarter of 2019	August 8, 2019		0.2000	August 28, 2019		21,631	September 18, 2019
Third quarter 2019	November 7, 2019		0.2000	November 27, 2019		21,744	December 18, 2019
Year ended December 31, 2018:
Fourth quarter 2017	January 26, 2018	$	0.1700	February 16, 2018	$	18,246	March 9, 2018
First quarter of 2018	May 9, 2018		0.1700	May 30, 2018		18,342	June 20, 2018
Second quarter of 2018	August 7, 2018		0.1800	August 29, 2018		19,528	September 19, 2018
Third quarter 2018	November 8, 2018		0.1800	November 28, 2018		19,562	December 19, 2018

Declared and undistributed

In addition to the above dividends, since the end of the year the Directors have recommended the payment of a final dividend of $0.22 cents per common share, accumulating to a total dividend of $24,180,000. The aggregate amount of the proposed final dividend is expected to be paid out of retained earnings on March 5, 2021 to stockholders of record on February 12, 2021. This dividend has not been recognized as a liability in the financial statements. The payment of this dividend will not have a tax consequence for the Company.

Foreign currency translation reserve

Foreign currency translation adjustment includes intra-entity foreign currency transactions that are of a long-term investment nature, which generated net gain of $10,826,000 for 2020 (2019: net loss of $1,082,000; 2018: net loss of $9,602,000).