It's a reasonable thought, but very often shares issued in these circumstances can't be sold for a long period of time. Also, the old owner is staying on to help run the business, and will receive more shares if certain targets are hit 3 years from now. He received $7m in cash (and $3m in BRI shares) so should have plenty of cash to survive! The volume of shares traded of late hasn't been any different to normal. I doubt the old owner has any incentive to sell even if he is legally able to. I imagine it's simply impatient holders realising it might be a year or two before strong growth appears and they've understandably found better opportunities for their money elsewhere.
i noticed on Commsec that our projected earnings for this year and next year have recently been cut quite drastically (presumably by Ord Minnett), so perhaps it's the weak macro outlook which is hurting us.
My feeling is this is the type of stock which at some point in time, will be trading at 12 month highs and people will be excitedly buying parcels. When in reality, the time to be buying is when the outlook is poor -- providing the balance sheet is healthy. And our modest debt has been shrinking, as dividends have been paid and acquisitions made. So I'm not concerned about our solvency.
From today's Weekend Australian front page:
"Mr. Albanese said this budget means more tradies, fewer barriers to construction, less talk and more homes".
"This isn't about one suburb or one city or one state. It's a challenge facing Australians everywhere and it needs action from every level of government."
"Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers will throw another $11.3b into the housing shortage crisis in next Tuesday's budget."
We shall see, but the bigger the crisis, the bigger the intervention. Especially from left of centre governments. I'll be very excited if this week's budget has serious spending plans for residential housing.
(20min delay)