The A2 Milk Co Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price edged higher today despite the broader market falling wayside.

During the day, shares in the infant formula rose as high as $5.37 but whittled away as the day went on.

However, a strong last-minute finish saw A2 Milk shares close at $5.40, up 0.94%.

For context, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) ended 0.55% lower to 6,659.8 points.

Let’s take a look at the recent share buyback that A2 Milk announced at its full-year results.

A2 Milk commences share buyback

Late last month, the company advised it was conducting a NZ$150 million (A$131 million) share buyback to increase shareholder value.

It was considered to be the most appropriate form of capital management amid COVID-19 related disruption and market headwinds.

The buyback programme is expected to commence towards the end of September 2022 and may run for up to 12 months.

A2 Milk noted that it may acquire shares through the NZX and ASX at the market price within the above period.

A maximum of around 37.18 million A2 Milk shares can be bought which represents no more than 5% of the company’s existing shares.

Traditionally, when a company looks to purchase its own stock, this pumps up the earnings per share (EPS) metric.

It also allows the company to take advantage of the share price weakness when it doesn’t reflect the underlying value of the business.

Furthermore, the value of each individual share also increases as there are fewer shares on the company’s registry.

The on-market buyback program does not require shareholder approval and will be executed at the company’s discretion.

A2 Milk share price snapshot

Despite the buyback announcement, it’s been a disappointing 12 months for the A2 Milk share price which has fallen 11%.

Year-to-date, its shares are down by 1%.

A2 Milk commands a market capitalisation of roughly $4.02 billion and has approximately 743.66 million shares outstanding.

The post A2 Milk share price lifts as buyback kicks off appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why this expert acquired a thirst for A2 Milk shares following the company’s latest results
• A2 Milk shares: Buy, hold, or fold?
• Could the A2 Milk share price be ready to leave the ‘doghouse’?
• Leading fund manager sees “material upside” to the a2 Milk share price

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has positions in A2 Milk. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended A2 Milk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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After a promising start to Wednesday’s trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) handed back its gains to slump lower. The index closed 0.53% lower at 6,462 points.

It followed another rough session on Wall Street. After falling into a bear market on Monday (Tuesday AEDT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) posted a 0.4% fall overnight. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) slumped 0.2% to its lowest close since November 2020.

Interestingly, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) dodged the suffering to gain 0.2%.

But that wasn’t enough to save the S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology Index (ASX: XIJ) from posting the biggest fall today. The tech sector slipped 1.6% on Wednesday.

Meanwhile the S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples Index (ASX: XSJ) slumped 0.4% and the S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Index (ASX: XDJ) dumped 1% amid the latest Australian retail figures.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics found Aussies upped their spending another 0.6% in August, as food retailing climbed and most other retailing fell.

At the end of the day, only two ASX 200 sectors were trading in the green. But which shares outperformed? Let’s take a look.

Top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown

Today’s top performer was none other than coal stock Coronado Global Resources Inc (ASX: CRN). It joined many of its ASX 200 coal producing peers in the green.

Today’s biggest gains were made by these shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Coronado Global Resources Inc (ASX: CRN)	$1.61	5.92%
Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX: RMS)	$0.645	5.74%
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)	$8.78	3.91%
Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX: IPL)	$3.50	3.55%
Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR)	$1.065	3.4%
Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: CUV)	$17.66	3.21%
New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC)	$5.90	2.97%
AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL)	$6.60	2.96%
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)	$3.82	2.69%
De Grey Mining Ltd (ASX: DEG)	$0.975	2.63%

Our top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to let you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the weekday market closes to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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A number of S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) consumer shares have seen plenty of volatility this year.

Certainly, the share prices of many ASX retailers have dropped during 2022.

For instance, in the ASX 200, the Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price has fallen 28% this year so far while the Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) share price has fallen 19%. Over the same period, the JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) share price has declined 21%, Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) has dropped 7% — and is down 14% since 22 August — and the Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price is down 10%. The list of woe goes on.

So, with all of that pain, you’d think retail sales are plummeting. Not so.

Retail sales grow in August

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported that seasonally adjusted retail sales for August 2022 rose by 0.6% month over month and were up 19.2% compared to August 2021.

Interestingly, there was quite a mixture of performance when it came to different retail segments.

Month over month, food retail sales increased 1.1%; household goods retailing rose 2.6%; clothing, footwear, and personal accessory sales fell 2.3%, department stores rose 2.8%; ‘other retailing’ decreased 2.5%; while cafes, restaurants, and takeaway food services saw a 1.3% rise.

Bloomberg reporting suggests this is going to mean another 0.5% increase in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA):

The resilience in consumer spending is likely to bolster expectations the Reserve Bank will raise rates by a half-percentage-point for a fifth straight month on Tuesday to take the cash rate to 2.85%. The RBA has signaled further hikes ahead, prompting money markets to price in a rate of about 3.4% by year’s end.

The RBA maintains that households are in a solid position to weather higher borrowing costs, having used pandemic-era stimulus to build up their savings or make early repayments on their mortgages.

In addition, unemployment of just 3.5% means most Australians have an income to meet their obligations.

While the month-over-month increase indicates that the RBA has more work to do, I think that the year-over-year increase is a positive sign that ASX 200 retail shares can report growth for the first half of FY23. That’s because we are currently cyclical against lockdowns for NSW and Victoria in the first half of FY22.

Are higher interest rates having no effect?

While retail sales are still increasing, there may be signs that the RBA’s efforts could be starting to work.

According to reporting by The Australian, Moody’s thought that monthly retail sales were going to grow by 1.5% in August. It pointed out that food-related industries were important drivers of the monthly numbers, but some of the increase may have been due to food inflation “giving retail value figures an artificial boost”.

But, there is still evidence of strong consumer spending growth, with retail sales in department stores and household goods both growing at least 2.6%.

So, Australia’s retail figures continue to grow. This is positive for ASX 200 retail share revenue as a whole, but it also gives the RBA more impetus to keep raising interest rates to slow the economy.

The post What might the latest retail sales figures mean for ASX 200 consumer shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET, Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd., and Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended JB Hi-Fi Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It’s been years since those invested in S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) travel giant Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) shares have received a dividend from the company.

That’s despite its ASX 200 peer Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) offering investors a 5-cent per share final payout for financial year 2022.

But there’s a good reason Flight Centre isn’t offering payouts just yet. The travel agent hasn’t posted a half year’s profit since 2019 after the pandemic took its toll on the travel industry. Thus, it can’t hand out a portion of its profits in the form of dividends.

And the company’s stock has dived alongside its earnings. The Flight Centre share price is currently $15.01. That’s around 60% lower than it was at the end of 2019.

So, when might investors see a dividend from the ASX 200 travel share? Let’s take a look.

When are Flight Centre shares expected to pay a dividend?

Flight Centre shares might not be on the cusp of paying a long-awaited dividend, but patient investors will likely be rewarded in the coming years.

The company’s leisure and corporate businesses both returned to profitability in the second half of financial year 2022. But that wasn’t enough to stop Flight Centre from posting a full-year loss of $272.6 million.

And while its recovery is said to be outpacing that of the industry, the company isn’t expecting to turn things around in financial year 2023.

Though, it does believe it will be tracking close to its monthly pre-COVID total transaction levels by the end of this fiscal year.

Following the release of the company’s expectations, Goldman Sachs voiced its expectations for Flight Centre’s shares to return to dividends.

The broker predicts the company could offer investors a payout in financial year 2024, as my Fool colleague James reports.

If such tips come true, the stock could end up going five years without paying a dividend following the onset of the pandemic.

The post Could dividends be back on the cards for Flight Centre shares soon? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Flight Centre share price tumbles to new 52-week low on Monday
• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• Could this be good news for Flight Centre shares?
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• Here’s why the Flight Centre share price isn’t all that it seems

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Corporate Travel Management Limited and Flight Centre Travel Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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