. Common Shares:

The Company’s authorized common share capital is

250

million shares of common stock without nominal or par value. On

December

31,

2018,

there were

10,627,988

shares of common stock outstanding (

2017:

10,583,879

Repurchase of common shares:

(a) Normal Course Issuer Bids:

February 13,

2019,

the Company announced that its Board of Directors (“Board”) has approved a stock buyback program to repurchase up to

$40

million of its common stock in the open market. The

$40

million buyback program commenced on

February 14, 2019

and is expected to terminate on

February 13, 2020.

Please see “Note

– Subsequent Events” for more information on the

2018

stock buyback program.

February 14,

2018,

the Company announced that its Board approved a stock buyback program to repurchase up to

$40

million of its common stock in the open market. The

$40

million buyback program commenced on

February 14, 2018

and terminated on

February 13, 2019.

repurchases were made under this program.

March 1, 2017,

the Company announced that its Board had approved a stock buyback program to repurchase of up to

$40

million of the Company's common stock in the open market. The

$40

million buyback program commenced on

March 1, 2017

and terminated on

February 14, 2018.

repurchases were made under this program.

February

2016,

the Company announced that its Board had approved a stock buyback program to repurchase up to

$40

million of its common stock in the open market. Purchases were made exclusively through the facilities of the NASDAQ Capital Market. The stock buyback program commenced on

February

10,

2016

and terminated on

February 9, 2017.

The Company repurchased

308,416

shares under this program during the year ended

December 31, 2016

for a total

$7.2

million.

(b) Net Exercise of Stock Options

Our current equity-based compensation plans include provisions that allow for the “net exercise” of stock options by all plan participants. In a net exercise, any required payroll taxes, federal withholding taxes and exercise price of the shares due from the option holder can be paid for by having the option holder tender back to the Company a number of shares at fair value equal to the amounts due. These transactions are accounted for by the Company as a purchase and retirement of shares and are included in the table on the following page as common stock received in connection with share-based compensation.

The following table summarizes our share repurchase activity for the periods covered below (Dollar amounts in thousands of US dollars, except for share data):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
Common stock repurchased on the open market or through tender offer
Number of shares		—		—		308,416
Aggregate market value of shares (in thousands)	$	—	$	—	$	7,180
Average price per share	$	—	$	—	$	23.28

Common stock received in connection with share-based compensation
Number of shares		19,777		50,454		25,572
Aggregate market value of shares (in thousands)	$	1,138	$	2,602	$	634
Average price per share	$	57.56	$	51.58	$	24.80