You have been hired as a financial consultant by Wayne Enterprise Ltd. Wayne Enterprises ordinary/common share price is showing a declining trend and the CEO Mr. Bruce Wayne is quite concerned. The company requires some external funds to expand business overseas for which the CFO Mr. Lucius Fox suggested that Wayne Enterprise issue preference shares with non-cumulative and convertible features. In the monthly meeting with both Finance and Accounting departments, Mr. Wayne showed a recent news on Sony Corp. published in the Financial Times on February 08, 2019 Sony has announced a 100bn ($910m) share buyback, its biggest ever and its first aimed at boosting shareholder returns, following a recent decline in its stock price on global growth concerns.1 In Mr. Waynes request to you- the financial consultant, he would like to know your thoughts on the following matters:

What is a share buyback and how can a share buyback boost shareholder returns as suggested in the statement above?

What is the difference between cumulative and non-cumulative preference shares?

What is the difference between convertible and non-convertible preference shares?

What effect(s) does convertible preference shares have on the EPS of a company?