Rightmove yesterday announced a ‘close period share re-purchase programme’.

Buying back shares is well-established practice for Rightmove, and the new programme is to run from yesterday, January 2, until the end of business on February 28.

While the announcement is only a standard piece of house-keeping, tit  does underline the amounts that Rightmove is prepared to invest in buying back its own shares – up to £10m a month.

During the two-month period, it will re-purchase its own shares – something it already does – within precise parameters, including at no more than 105% of the average middle market closing price for the five dealing days preceding the date of purchase.

The maximum pecuniary amount allocated to the buy-back programme is £20m, and the maximum number of shares that will be purchased is 4,444,444.

A close period is the time between the completion of a listed company’s financial results and when they are announced. Last year, Rightmove announced its full year results on February 23.

Yesterday, the first day of trading since New Year’s Eve, the shares went up 1.5% to finish at around 439p.