Must have been a very fast deterioration in the company’s markets
On 17 and 18 November 2011 Stephen Puckett, an executive director of Michael Page International plc, and his wife sold 594,672 shares in Michael Page, at prices between £3.76 and £3.30, raising £2,249,889.
On 15 and 16 November 2011 Charles-Henri Dumon, an executive director of Michael Page, sold 130,000 shares in Michael Page, at prices between £3.65 and £3.69, raising £475,700.
On 5 December 2011 Michael Page issued a profit warning, resulting in a share price drop to around £3.16.
The Model Code annexed to Chapter 9 of the Listing Rules:
“imposes restrictions on dealing in the securities of a listed company beyond those imposed by law. Its purpose is to ensure that persons discharging managerial responsibilities do not abuse, and do not place themselves under suspicion of abusing, inside information that they may be thought to have, especially in periods leading up to an announcement of the company’s results”
and prohibits dealing in a company’s shares in “any period when there exists any matter which constitutes inside information in relation to the company”.
Michael Page’s profit warning on 5 December 2011 was unscheduled and so the inference to be drawn from the short period of time (less than three weeks) between the timing of the executive directors’ share sales and the date of the profit warning is that Michael Page’s markets deteriorated so rapidly that the executive directors were not in possession of any inside information at the time of those share sales.
Friendly Corporate PSL
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