Bytes CEO quits after failure to disclose trades

Shares in Bytes Technology plunged 6% on Wednesday as the group revealed that CEO Neil Murphy has resigned with immediate effect.

The resignation appears to be connected to Murphy’s dealings in Bytes’ shares.

The UK firm, spun out of Altron in 2020, said Murphy notified the board on Wednesday that “he has made a number of trades in the company’s shares that had not been disclosed to the company or the market in compliance with the PDMR (person discharging managerial responsibility) disclosure requirements”.

PDMRs are individuals who have access to inside information about a publicly traded company due to their position, such as CEOs, CFOs, directors and senior managers.

To prevent insider trading and ensure market transparency, such individuals are subject to strict disclosure requirements regarding their transactions involving the company’s financial instruments or shares. The company said its board was working to clarify the details of these undisclosed trades.

THE COMPANY SAID ITS BOARD WAS WORKING TO CLARIFY THE DETAILS OF THESE UNDISCLOSED TRADES.

Based on the information provided to the board, Murphy’s holds 2,890,218 Bytes shares , which remains unchanged from the position notified to the market on November 28, 2023. Murphy has been with Bytes since 1997.

Bytes is listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a secondary listing on the JSE, after a demerger that created R13bn in value for Altron shareholders in December 2020. The firm is now valued at R32.8bn. It is the biggest reseller of tech giant Microsoft’s products in the UK and is chasing a market of 42,000 private-sector companies, which collectively spent about £105bn on IT in 2019.

Bytes shares closed 6.03% lower on Wednesday at R136.40. A steady performer, the stock is up 51.56% over the past 12 months.

To fill the leadership void the company’s executive director and MD of Phoenix Software, Sam Mudd, will assume the role of interim CEO.

The company said trading for the current financial year ending on February 29 “has been in line with the board’s expectations”.

Bytes is set to publish a trading update in March.