The Insider | Buying recovers while directors’ disposals continue to increase in Hong Kong
The buying by directors recovered , while the selling by directors continued to be high based on filings on the Exchange in the last week of April. Buyers outweighed sellers with 32 companies recording 187 purchases worth HK$196 million compared with 15 firms and 71 disposals worth HK$108 million in the previous week. The number of companies on the buying side was slightly down from the previous week’s 35 firms. The number of purchases and value, however, was sharply up from the previous week’s 145 acquisitions worth HK$133 million. On the selling side, the number of companies was consistent with the previous week’s 14 firms while the number of trades was up from the previous week’s 61 disposals. Although the number of disposals was up, the sell value was sharply down from the previous week’s disposals worth HK$4.39 billion.
The huge drop in the sell value, however, was mainly due to heavy sales by Tencent Holdings in the previous week worth HK$4.22 billion. There were several rare director trades last week with buys in Media Asia Group, Optics Valley Union and SiS International and sales in Chiho-Tiande Group, Yip’s Chemical and Win Hanverky Holdings.
Chairman Peter Lam Kin Ngok recorded his first trades in event organisation and management services provider Media Asia Group since his appointment in 2011 with 2.184 million shares purchased from April 22 to 25 at HK$0.55 each. The trades, which accounted for 74 per cent of the stock’s trading volume, increased his holdings to 1.484 billion shares or 69.5 per cent of the issued capital. The purchases were made on the back of the 25 per cent rebound in the share price since February from HK$0.44. Despite the rebound in the share price, the counter is still down since 2012 from HK$2.69. The counter closed at HK$0.60 on Friday.
Vice President Chen Huifen recorded the first corporate shareholder trade in commercial business parks developer and operator Optics Valley Union Holding since the stock was listed in March 2014 with 800,000 shares purchased on April 21 at HK$0.80 each. The trade increased his holdings to 11.750 million shares or 0.29 per cent of the issued capital. The purchase was made on the back of the 22 per cent drop in the share price since January from HK$1.02. Despite the fall in the share price, the counter is still up since October 2015 from HK$0.63. The director’s purchase price was slightly lower than the IPO price of HK$0.83. The counter closed at HK$0.83 on Friday.
Executive Director & Co-Founder Lim Hwee Hai recorded his first trades in IT products distributor and property investor SiS International based on filings on the Exchange since 1993 with 2.33 million shares purchased from April 14 to 20 at HK$3.95 each. The trades increased his holdings by 32 per cent to 9.544 million shares or 3.44 per cent of the issued capital. The purchases were made on the back of the 17 per cent drop in the share price since August 2015 from HK$4.76. Despite the fall in the share price, the counter is still up since August 2012 from HK$2.20. The acquisitions by Lim are also the first trades by a director of the company since 1998. The stock closed at HK$3.95 on Friday.
Executive Director Zhang Mingjie recorded his first trades in metal scrap recycler and importer Chiho-Tiande Group since his appointment in August 2015 with 23 million shares sold from April 15 to 19 at HK$5.03 each. The trades reduced his holdings by 10 per cent to 207.198 million shares or 12.79 per cent of the issued capital. The disposals were made on the back of the 48 per cent rebound in the share price since February from HK$3.40. Despite the rebound in the share price, the counter is still down since June 2015 from HK$12.46. The stock closed at HK$5.80 on Friday.