Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent company George Weston Ltd. say they have both entered into automatic share purchase plans with brokers.

The automatic buybacks will form part of the companies91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™ existing repurchase programs to buy back up to five per cent of their issued and outstanding shares.

Loblaw91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s program, which runs until May 5 of next year, would see it purchase up to 15.3 million shares.

George Weston91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s normal course issuer bid will run to May 26, under which it could buy up to 6.6 million shares.

Those plans will allow the grocer91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s broker to buy back shares at times when Loblaw and George Weston would not be active because of insider trading rules and internal trading blackout periods.

Companies routinely conduct share buyback programs as a way to return capital to shareholders and to try to boost share price.

The Canadian Press