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Welcome to HotCopper’s Director Trades column, where we take a look at all the most interesting director transactions from across the past week and break down the details. This week, we’ll look at Nov. 28 to Dec. 5.
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Directors legally have five business days to notify the ASX of their trades, so some transactions may be recorded after this article was written and published.
1. Pantoro Gold
Pantoro Gold (ASX:PNR) chief Mark Maloney made the biggest “insider” trade through the date range we’re looking at in this week’s Directors column, selling $129 million (around 25.8M shares, all up) at $5 a piece.
There’s plenty that would make Mr Maloney cash in, including Tulla Resources (ASX:TUL) selling down last Tuesday to the tune of around $129 million.
Tulla and Pantoro have been unified since 2022, when the pair came together to work on the Norseman Gold Project in Western Australia.
The Pantoro director may have simply been turning some of his shares into cash as well, considering the high price – since his sale (and Tulla’s sell-down), PNR shares have dropped back to $4.82/ea. At their CY25 height, the company’s equities were trading at around $6.55 intraday; that came in October.
2. WEB Travel Group
Next up, WEB Travel Group (ASX:WEB) managing director John Guscic shipped away some 2.7 million shares, worth up to $854,000 at $4.67/ea. The move, advised by WEB on November 28, leaves him with 2.7M shares.
Considering he still has half the holdings he’d boasted heading into December, it’s quite likely Mr Guscic was just striking while the iron was hot: WEB shares had popped through the month after reporting strong first-half growth, with holders also very happy with the company’s quarterly guidance.
The best answer is likely that he was grabbing cash. Mr Guscic also picked up some options at the same time, replacing the shares he had at an extremely cheap 31.5cps price and for as much as $11.5M less.
Today, WEB is selling at $4.79/sh.
3. Energy One
Finally, veteran Ian Ferrier sold 60% of his Energy One (ASX:EOL) holding at the start of Week 49, pocketing just under $5.4 million after shedding 326,039 shares. He has another 272K under his belt for the time being.
Mr Ferrier has been an Energy One director for 29 years, so it’s unlikely he’s going anywhere, but no one’s complaining about $5.4M in cash.
Indeed, back in August, he sold a similarly sized package and stated in an Appendix 3Y filing that he “did not intend to dispose of any shares in the following 12 months.” The only thing that’s changed, The Market Link understands, is that Mr Ferrier is looking to buy a new home and specifically requested freedom to sell.
Through to Friday afternoon, EOL shares have been $17.84, up 2.5%.
Catching up
And just looking back beyond the date range to a recently registered move, Russell Allen made a buy move last week: He picked up $1 million more Forest Group Holdings (ASX:FGH) shares by activating an options clause.
Mr Allen bit the apple when it was around 3.5cps; the company’s price has hovered around there since late September. That said, FGH is +337% YTD.
That’s this week’s Director Trades – we’ll be back with more next Friday.
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