For those who have observed LT for over a decade, he's always cashed in a portion of his shares annually and kept his balance in the company he's managing relieve modest, in the eyes of certain shareholders .... who are at odds with the amount and type of remuneration that mining executives receive.
A lot of executives cash in these bonus / options shares, when they come into the money, for many of these may lapse worthless if the SP doesn't move sufficiently for long enough, to allow a director / MD a window of opportunity to crystallise a gain.
Note the shares are in his family trust and as a director he has an obligation to manage that "responsibly".
That could mean a very conservative "balanced portfolio" which could mean a limited exposure to gold miners.
A time honoured "BUY' signal in small companies is a buy from key personal usually the MD or Chairman founder .... and conversely every time such people sell, the market (if the SP is peaking/weakening/low liquidity/ information drought ..... ) will interpret it negatively as a SELL.
Nobody cares if a BHP or CBA director sells down but followers of speculative mining companies (in particular) have this exaggerated expectation that the MD(in particular) will always maintain their confidence by not selling down at anytime ... SELL at a high .... "whats going on" "what does he know that we don't know?" .... etc etc .... or SP low, SELLS because of a "divorce" or for "tax" or for whatever.
Executives have relatively narrow windows when they can buy or sell, and are supposed to not be acting on very hot information. It would seem that selling in June, after the merger was confirmed and before the end of the FY would be one of those opportunity periods for a senior executive ??
Since June the market has become unstable and uneven, and RED's projectory has wobbled, upsetting true blue RED and SLR survivors.
Expecting the MD to follow their instincts and not follow his regular practice of rebalancing his portfolio is unrealistic and unfair.
Judge the MD and the BOD on their performance and stop the character assinattion, its not helpful nor will it affect the likes of Cool Hand Luke.
Focus on the company structure and function, and the problems in hand of integrating many (earth) moving pieces, in a very volatile market.
Yes the POG is up again, but thats more a measure of currency volatility and a distrust of the market - this in the short term may not benefit gold miners, as hard heads are looking at these companies longer term .... Yes VAU may be a dividend player longer term, and yes it will be a long life ... BUT in the meantime the SP will fluctuate and recent substantial shareholder notices, may indicate that further M&A is possible.
Retail shareholders often only see surface currents, and not the deeper currents which are the major determinant of company direction and outcome.
VAU remains my largest shareholding and IMHO is good value at current levels and a confident HOLD .... or BUY if one has cash & confidence.
DYOR and take responsibility for your decisions and actions - doing nothing is a decision - "those who don't have a share trading plan, are planning to fail" is a very old Stockmarket saying. Combine technicals with fundamentals and take profits, and take losses when stock doesn't perform to your plan - easy said, hard to do ... I don't always follow my own advice (as she who must be obeyed reminds me)
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