RWE won't decide on additional buybacks before 2026, CFO says

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) -RWE will decide on whether to expand or extend share buybacks next year, its finance chief said, pouring cold water on hopes of some of its investors for a more aggressive approach.

RWE's current buyback programme has a volume of up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion) and several investors, including Elliott, Selwood Asset Management and Enkraft Capital, have urged the company to expand the programme significantly.

"The current share buyback programme runs until the second quarter of 2026, and at that point we will also look at whether we should extend the programme," finance chief Michael Mueller told journalists after presenting first-quarter results.

He said there would be no decision before that.

RWE has said that buybacks would remain part of its options going forward but has so far refrained from committing more capital to it, saying it depended on several factors including share price and framework conditions in the sector.

Shareholder group VkA -- which represents a stake of around 14% in RWE -- said last month the company should keep investing in renewable projects rather than spending more money on buybacks.

A person familiar with the matter said that both was possible at the same time.

"Increasing the buyback doesn't mean you have to stop being a renewable company. It is difficult to understand why they are not doing it now," the person said.

($1 = 0.8945 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff, Editing by Madeline Chambers and David Evans)