Ann: Change of Director's Interest Notice, page-3

It’s certainly odd. But I’m inclined to take Alf at his word for it. I think it is much more likely that the sons were innocently unaware of the impact their sales would have on their father’s disclosure responsibilities than it is that any “family selling on the sly” was going on. The sons likely just assumed “we don’t have to disclose” and just didn’t know about the “second hand” impact on their father’s disclosure responsibility. It’s a bit poor, but quite possible I think.

I’m not sure the family is all that close. Taine was the heir apparent, and seemed to lose all interest when the WeWork threat appeared. Maybe the family just isn’t in close enough contact these days that the sons would even mention to Alf that they are selling some shares. That sounds a bit sad, but it happens.

“Selling on the sly” would only be happening if numbers were falling off a cliff. I very much doubt that is happening. The most recent forecasts of just a few months ago were quite positive.

So…my guess is that this is either just gross carelessness within a happy family unit, or a consequence of some dysfunction in the family relationships. Stuff happens.

I don’t think we can blame Mark for what happened. All he could do was play his part “putting it right” after the event, which he has done.