There are few things private shareholders like more than directors having 'skin in the game', as demonstrated this morning by with Berkeley Mineral Resources (LON:BMR).
Alex Borrelli, chairman and chief executive officer of the mineral processing company, bought 4mln shares at 0.5p a pop, as did Denis Bailey, who – in management lingo – is a person discharging managerial responsibility.
Borrelli, who took the reins after the resignation of Masoud Alikhani, opened his account and now has a 3% stake in the firm, as does Bailey.
The shares shot up more than a fifth to 0.55p, making them one of the biggest risers of the day … but not the biggest; that accolade goes to New World Oil & Gas (LON:NEW), which, not for the first time in recent days, is moving upwards faster than a rocket.
A week ago you could have bought the shares for around 0.08; now they will set you back more than 0.30p.
Yesterday, the company said it received a communication from three members of the Williams family purporting to be a letter of requisition, and claiming an aggregate holding of more than 342mln shares.
After inspecting its share register and on advice from its lawyers, New World deemed the requisition invalid.
There has been a certain amount of confusion over the shareholding of the Williams family, particularly Judith Williams, after her son, Christopher, bought shares in the company on her behalf, thinking he was acquiring a 10% stake whereas in fact, because a proposed open offer of new shares has yet to take place, he acquired a 48.7% stake, a level at which normally a mandatory bid would be triggered.
The 76-year old Judith Williams might end up having to stump up £1.5mln to buy all the New World shares she does not own at the same price that she (or her son) bought her current stake.
The Takeover Panel appears to have given her an escape route, however, having made an exceptional ruling that “for the purposes of the Takeover Code, Mrs Williams will only be treated as interested in the shares that she has purchased in the event of their delivery into the CREST account of her broker”.
Meanwhile, the FT's business blog, Alphaville, speculated earlier this week that all of this volatility is down to moves by some shareholders trying to block a proposed share placing.
Meanwhile, after trading closed yesterday it was revealed that Metal Tiger has reduced its stake in New World from above 6% to below 3%, meaning it is no longer obliged to notify the market of any changes to its shareholding (LON:MTR).
On the subject of confusion, judging by the “most read” section of a well-known company news web site, a number of readers are clicking on the results statement of New World Resources (LON:NWR), a company totally unrelated to New World Oil & Gas.
Among the big boys, lager brewer SABMiller (LON:SAB), has attracted attention with its 9% hike in its final dividend while insurer Admiral Group (LON:ADM) has revealed its chief executive, Henry Engelhardt, is to jump ship next year.