"Let me reconfirm we have NO intention to do any M&A and we will not be drawn into any transactions," CEO Jean Pierre Mustier said in a letter dated Feb. 19.

After shelving plan for a cross-border merger deal which he says is not possible given the sector's depressed market valuations, Mustier has been focusing on boosting investor returns through a combination of dividends and share buybacks.

(Reporting by Valentina Za; editing by James Mackenzie)