Middle East Business

Space42 cleared to buy back up to 2.5 per cent of its shares after record first half

By Staff Writer  |  17 August 2026

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange has approved the space technology group's buyback programme, which follows shareholder approval in April, will be funded from existing cash, and comes after first-half revenue rose 15 per cent to 260 million dollars.

Space42, the Abu Dhabi-listed space technology company, has received approval from the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange to proceed with a share buyback programme covering up to 2.5 per cent of its issued share capital. The exchange's approval, announced on 14 August, follows the shareholder mandate given at the company's general assembly meeting in April.

The programme will be funded from the company's existing cash resources and executed through open-market transactions under the exchange's rules and the regulations of the Capital and Market Authority. Completed purchases will be disclosed through the exchange's website as market disclosure rules require.

This buyback programme reflects our confidence in Space42's long-term future and our belief that the current share price undervalues the intrinsic value of the Company. It reinforces our commitment to deliver attractive returns to shareholders, in line with our Financial Framework, and represents a disciplined and efficient deployment of capital.

Karim Michel Sabbagh, Managing Director of Space42

A capital decision on the back of a record half

The approval lands two days after the company reported first-half results, with revenue rising 15 per cent year on year to 260 million dollars, or 953 million dirhams, a performance the company describes as a record for the period. The buyback is presented as part of the financial framework the group set out to govern how it deploys capital between growth and shareholder returns.

Space42 was formed through the merger of the Abu Dhabi-listed geospatial and artificial intelligence business Bayanat with the satellite communications operator Yahsat, completed in 2024, and its shares have traded under the current name since October that year. The group's work spans satellite communications, Earth observation and geospatial intelligence.

A buyback of up to 2.5 per cent, funded from cash and executed on market, reduces the free float only marginally; its weight is as a statement about where the board believes the share price sits against the value of the business.

Why it matters beyond the register

For the region's capital markets, the mechanics matter as much as the money. The sequence here, a shareholder mandate in April, a regulatory approval in August, disclosure of each completed transaction through the exchange, is the procedural path other listed companies in the Emirates will follow as buybacks become a more common tool. The exchange has made the disclosure trail explicit, and each purchase will be visible on the public record as it happens.

For the space and technology sector the signal is financial maturity. A company in a capital-hungry industry electing to return capital while reporting record revenue is telling the market it can fund its programme and still consider its shares the better purchase. The disclosures that follow on the exchange's website will show at what pace, and at what prices, the board acts on that belief.