Lifting the lid on the directors’ cut

BUYERS VS SELLERS: BOSSES NAIL COLOURS TO SHARE MAST

Recent months have seen significant activity in share sales by directors of companies, with sellers outnumbering buyers.

Asurvey of the biggest share transactions by directors of JSE-listed companies since mid-September reveals most dealings have been sales, but there have also been some significant buys. Easily the biggest spender is Shoprite chairperson Christo Wiese, who between October 3 and 27 bought R173.13 million in single stock futures as the share continues its new upward trajectory, and shows him to be bullish, unlike most market watchers.

His associates at Shoprite have hardly shared his optimism. Alternate director and COO of Shoprite Checkers Pieter Engelbrecht sold R10.41 million worth of shares between September 17 and 19. Two other directors of Shoprite Checkers, David Jacobs and Andrew Gardner, have sold a combined R15 million.

Diving in

Sasfin CEO Roland Sassoon was the second-biggest purchaser, of a million shares at the end of September for R53.4 million, more than 3% of Sasfin’s market capitalisation, taking his family interest in the business to about 40%.

At EOH, nonexecutive director Danny Mackay bought 195 000 shares for R18.53 million at the end of September. Four other directors sold stock worth about R25 million over the next few weeks.

The fourth-largest buyer was Paul Leaf- Wright, CEO of Atlantic Leaf Properties, who took R14 million from an Atlantic share sale at the end of October.

And the only other one worth more than R10 million came from newly appointed Standard Bank nonexecutive director Atedo Peterside. In two transactions in mid-October he took 100 000 shares at a total price of R12.76 million.

The buyers have, however, been far outweighed by the sellers.

The largest selling at a Top 40 company has been at Remgro. CEO Jannie Durand sold R13.12 million worth last week, CFO Leon Crouse realised R29.27 million and executive director Wilhelm Bührmann sold R20.06 million last month.

At Attacq, three directors sold a combined R110 million between the end of September and early November.

CEO Morne Wilken sold R13 million, but this was dwarfed by executive director Louis van der Watt and nonexecutive director Pieter Faure. Van der Watt sold a little over R55 million, while Faure realised just more than R45 million.

Property sales

In other property stocks, Louis Norval, a nonexecutive director at Hyprop, sold 241 035 units, worth nearly R22 million, between September 19 and October 27.

At the Investec Australia Property Fund, nonexecutive director Sam Leon realised R14.15 million from selling 1.3 million units. Three directors of New Europe Property Investments sold more than R17 million worth of stock between them in mid-September.

Anthony Fletcher, the executive chairman of ELB Group, sold 1 million shares for R47 million on October 6 – about 3% of ELB’s value.

Serge Belamant, the CEO of Net 1 UEPS Technologies, in September sold R43.5 million worth of stock in the small cap counter.