Returning capital to shareholders. The company’s Board of Directors has approved a plan to return up to US$30 million to shareholders in 2020. Sierra Metals intends to commence an issuer bid under which the company will offer to repurchase up to US$15 million of its common shares from shareholders. The offering will be conducted using a modified Dutch auction. Terms of the offer will be announced in the second quarter of 2020. As of September 30, 2019, common shares outstanding were 162,636,500.Share repurchases or dividends? The Board is evaluating how to return the remaining US$15 million, including the potential for additional issuer bids. Going forward, management expects to be able to return, on an annual basis, a significant portion of its excess free cash flow to shareholders. We think this could be executed through additional share repurchases or special dividends. While free cash flow is expected to be negative in 2019, we forecast positive free cash flow in 2020 with growth in subsequent years due to lower capital expenditures. While share repurchases are a flexible and tax efficient way to return capital to shareholders, a dividend policy may also be considered.Read More >>