Rathbones' Stick urges companies to reward investors with buybacks

Manager sees little interest to be earned from cash, believing buybacks would be more beneficial to investors

Rathbone Unit Trust Management’s Income fund manager Carl Stick is urging UK companies that hold cash to repurchase their shares. Stick, who has run his £521m fund for 10 years, says firms will earn little interest from cash, but buybacks would benefit investors. He says: “The trend is to do buybacks when shares are expensive. We like firms with cash on their balance sheet, but the returns they are getting for that from the bank now is de minimus. “We ask firms: ‘Do you have to sit on that cash?’ Dividends are a nice way to return cash to shareholders, but not the only way.” UK ...