shaken and stirred!, page-4

Put into measured context, the share trading in SLX since 1/1/5 has been as follows:

2005:
JAN = 2.2M
FEB = 3.0M
MAR = 2.6M
APR = 2.2M
MAY = 6.1M
JUN = 5.8M
JUL = 2.9M
AUG = 4.3M
SEP = 3.0M
OCT = 16.0M
NOV = 7.4M
DEC = 8.4M

2006:
JAN = 5.3M

AVERAGE TO MARCH 2005 = 2.6M

AVERAGE TO JUNE 2005 = 3.7M (3 MONTH AVERAGE = 4.7M)

AVERAGE TO SEPTEMBER 2005 = 3.6M (3 MONTH AVERAGE = 3.4M)

AVERAGE TO DECEMBER 2005 = 5.3M (65M SHARES TRADED IN 2005)

AVERAGE SINCE OCT 2005 (INC JAN 2006) = 9.3M (37M SHARES TRADED)

AVERAGE SINCE OCT (EXC JAN 2006) = 10.6M

The January effect is still 3.1M short of December, 2.1M short of November, and 10.7M short of October, and is only 1/2 the Oct-Dec average.

These figures do not suggest a dumping. Quite the opposite. They suggest a growing accumulation, tempered by off-market buying (ie: undisclosed, as opposed to disclosed buying), and a tightening of market conditions. This has the effect of exacerbating movements either way in the share price (ie: due to an absence of market chatter, the small sales tend to drive down the price heavily, as those who have already accumulated are not trading, and those who are trading have little knowledge or understanding of the Company, other than knowledge (perhaps) of stop losses.

Without a doubt, stop losses would have been triggered on any real purchases in the $2.50-2.78 range (ie: 90-80% down from the 12 month high, taking tonight's $2.25 close as the appropriate marker). If so, the sale volume today did not reflect it (ie: 725K traded today, and 769K traded on Wednesday).

My conclusion:
No dumping by large shareholders. In any event, smalltime sales are quite an expensive way of trying to do such a thing.