DroneShield says 31% share price rout 'unrelated' to growth trajectory
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More news: DroneShield has stressed that the sale of shares by its CEO, chair and another director is "unrelated to the growth trajectory of the company".
DroneShield shares closed 31.4% lower at $2.25 and are down 62.7% over the last month. Its share price is still up 200% in the year to date.
What they said: "Yesterday's change of directors' interest notices are unrelated to the growth trajectory of the company, which remains strong, as highlighted in the recent quarterly market update reflecting record quarter-on-quarter revenue growth and positive operating cashflow," the company told the exchange after market close.
"Directors have retained a stake in the Company through vested options as they done in the past when disposing of shares acquired on exercise of options. The Board and the executives remain fully committed to the success of the Company."
DroneShield believes selloff due to CEO disposal of shares
More news: DroneShield said it is unaware of any information that has not been announced to the market after its shares dived 34% on Thursday.
The counter-drone technology company said that it "understands, based on investor feedback, that the recent trading may have been in response to the disposal of shares".
DroneShield lodged a notice with the ASX on Wednesday evening showing that its CEO Oleg Vornik had sold $49.5 million worth of stock, his entire holding of fully paid ordinary shares.
Chair Peter James and board director Jethro Marks also sold $12.4 million and $4.9 million worth of shares respectively.
DroneShield shares dive 26% after CEO sells $49.5m interest
The news: DroneShield’s share price has cratered after the counterdrone technology manufacturer’s CEO Oleg Vornik sold $49.5 million worth of stock, his entire holding of fully paid ordinary shares.
Chair Peter James and board director Jethro Marks also sold out of their fully paid ordinary shares for $12.4 million and $4.9 million respectively.
The numbers: At 10:21am AEDT, shares in DroneShield had fallen 26% to $2.45. While the stock was up 226.7% in the year to date, it is down 59.37% over the last 30 days. The stock closed at a peak of $6.60 on 9 October.
Between 6 November and 12 November, CEO Oleg Vornik sold the 14,806,833 fully paid ordinary shares he held through on-market trades. He still holds 193,167 vested performance options as well as 709,361 unvested performance options.
Over the same period James sold 3,685,345 shares for $12,353,587 and Marks sold 1,460,000 shares for $4,892,545.
The context: The sell-off period coincided with an incorrect order announcement on 10 November that initially lifted DroneShield’s share price before it retreated when the announcement was withdrawn a few hours later.
The stock holdings that were sold off were initially acquired by the three directors through performance options that were vested earlier in the month. James also sold off an additional 935,345 that he held indirectly.
On 4 November, 44,455,000 performance options were vested to DroneShield options after achieving the performance hurdle of $200 million cash receipts in a 12-month rolling period.
The three directors subsequently converted the options to fully paid ordinary shares on 5 November.
What they said: “That’s about $50 million worth of conviction… heading straight for the exit,” PAC Partners institutional equity sales analyst James Nicolaou said in a note to clients.
“What do they still own? Just performance shares and a few options. The CEO’s remaining 900k options are described as ‘significant’ — which is generous, bordering on comedy," he said.
“As the CEO told the AFR last month: ‘We run towards fires. If you don’t know whose problem it is, it’s yours’. Well, he’s certainly run — just not towards the fire.”
