Directors trades show confidence

BUYING SPREE: BOSSES TANK UP ON THEIR COMPANIES’ OWN SHARES IN LAST QUARTER

Do bosses of JSE companies know something we don’t? They’ve bought three times more of their own shares than they’ve sold in the last three months.

JSE directors went on a R2.3 billion share buying spree over the last three months. That’s more than three times the R772 million worth of shares sold by directors over the same period.

Several of the shares involved had dipped in price, presenting a good opportunity for buying.

Swings and roundabouts

Property company Polksprop, with 10 office and 11 retail projects in Poland, is a case in point. The shares were at R23 in October and are now down to about R18. Two of the directors, Marc Wainer and Andrew König bought R160 million and R76 million worth of the stocks, respectively.

The biggest buyer was Paul Harris of Rand Merchant Investment Holdings, who reportedly bought close to R1 billion worth of the company’s shares.

The drop in RMI’s price from R43 to R38 in recent weeks perhaps prompted the buying spree. The share price has since rebounded to R42.

Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Redefine bought its own shares worth R39 million. Redefine is the largest shareholder in Polksprop, indicating great confidence in the sector.

Nic Holland, CEO at Goldfields, believes the company is a steal at its low price of around R40. It touched R91 a share in August last year, and is leveraged to the rand and the gold price. Holland picked up R13.5 million worth of Goldfields shares.

Stuart Bird, CEO of Mr Price, also took a R16 million punt on his company’s stock as it fell to a recent low of R130 in November, though it has since climbed to about R170.

Selling season

Wayne Hook of Spar took advantage of the surge in share price since 2015 to cash up R7 million worth of his shares.