Insider Trades: Directors bought and sold shares in these 12 ASX companies

Welcome back to the Insider Trades Series – A weekly summary of on-market ASX 200 director transactions valued at more than $10,000. The trades have all taken place between 8 and 11 April 2024. Directors have up to 5 business days to notify the ASX of their trades.

Soul Patts & Brickworks

Washington H Soul Pattinson Chairman Robert Miller bought around $35.1 million or 520,000 shares between 2-4 April 2024 and added another $3 million or 90,000 shares in the past week. He beneficially owns 23.44 million shares in the company.

We've put Soul Patts and Brickworks under one table because Soul Patts owns approximately 43.1% of the building company. The purchase from Managing Director Lindsay Partridge reflects the purchase of shares under a deferred short-term incentives plan for FY23 (so not exactly an on-market trade).

Adairs: Slight Selldown

Adairs Chief Executive Mark Ronan sold approximately 24% of his holdings (275,000 shares) last week and beneficially owns a remaining 854,267 shares.

Last month, Non-Executive Director Trent Peterson sold another $608,900 (240,000 shares) near 12-month highs of $2.54 per share.

Strike Energy: Selling into weakness

Strike Energy is a $650 million market cap company operating several development and gas-producing assets around the Perth Basin. The stock more than halved between 8-20 February after announcing the unexpected failure of its South Erregulla-3 well.

The stock has struggled to recover from the mid-February selldown and is still down 48% compared to pre-announcement levels. It's interesting to see a Non-Executive Director offload shares at such depressed levels. Mr Seaton beneficially owns 4.4 million shares.

Experience Co: Near four-year lows

Experience Co is a $110 million market cap adventure tourism and leisure business, with experiences primarily located on Australia's east coast and Queenstown, New Zealand.

The stock is relatively illiquid (current 20-day average volume of 185,000 shares or around $26,000) and down 28% year-to-date to levels not seen since August 2020.

Its latest half-year FY24 results (announced on 21 February) were relatively mixed. Some key highlights include:

• Revenue up 21% to $62.3 million

• Statutory net loss of $1.3 million (1H23: $1.6 million)

• Strongest trading volumes and revenue since the pandemic

• International recovery continues and the company looks forward to inbound visitation from key markets including China

• Operating cash flow up 66% to $7.0 million

• Tropical Cyclone Jasper and weather events in South-East Queensland disrupted operation during peak December period

It's interesting to see another Non-Executive Director sell shares near multi-year lows. Mr Boucaut still owns approximately 175.2 million shares.

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