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(Sharecast News) - Compass Group announced an agreement to repurchase up to $250m (£196.7m) of its ordinary shares on Friday.
The FTSE 100 company said the buyback would be the second and final phase of the $500m share repurchase programme first announced with its full-year results on 20 November last year.
It said the buyback was scheduled to take place between 21 June and 17 December.
The board said the primary objective of the buyback was to reduce the share capital of Compass Group by returning excess capital to its shareholders.
Shareholders had granted the company the authority to repurchase up to 171,140,000 shares during the annual general meeting on 8 February.
To date, no shares have been repurchased under that authority, leaving the full amount available for the current buyback initiative.
The shares would be bought by JPMorgan Securities on regulated stock markets and subsequently sold to the company on the London Stock Exchange.
Shares repurchased under the buyback would be held in treasury, and were intended to fulfil obligations from employee share schemes or other allocations to employees or directors.
The board said the buyback would not include the company's American Depositary Receipts.
At 0926 BST, shares in Compass Group were up 0.22% at 2,243p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
