Truth about Purple Group CEO Charles Savage’s share trades
An analysis by Daily Investor revealed that Purple Group CEO Charles Savage and CFO Gary van Dyk were net buyers of shares when options were considered, but not with on-market transactions.
Purple Group executives and directors were recently accused of talking up the company while dumping millions in shares, ultimately hurting retail investors.
Many commentators highlighted that Purple Group directors and executives sold millions in shares while telling retail investors it is a great company to invest in.
Savage hit back at accusations, saying, “99.9% placed with institutions who wanted the shares and hold them today. Personally, I was a net buyer, as was the CFO”.
“Charles Savage and Gary van Dyk sold shares at the time to enable them to exercise options, including paying for them and the tax and to manage some debt,” company spokesperson Carel Nolte said.
“Crudely put, they didn’t sell in Purple to take money to buy flashy cars but to largely invest more in the company.”
He added that the Purple Group CEO and CFO bought or exercised more shares than they sold. “They are long-time holders,” he said.
The Purple Group CEO urged people to look at the publicly available information about their share trades before drawing conclusions.
Daily Investor analysed Savage and Van Dyk’s share trades since 2014, which revealed the following.
- When all transactions were considered, there was a net buying in the number of shares and cash flows for the Purple Group CEO and CFO.
- Looking at on-market, non-option trades, there was a net selling in the number of shares and cash flows.
The data showed that most of Savage and Van Dyk’s share buys were linked to options, a reward mechanism for Purple Group executives and directors.
The Purple Group executive options differ from buying shares with cash on the market as there is no downside risk.
The share options allowed directors to pay between 35c and 75c per Purple Group share, significantly lower than the prevailing market share price over the period.
Unsurprisingly, the directors mainly exercised their options if there was an immediate benefit. If there was no immediate benefit, the options were mostly not exercised.
There is, therefore, merit in both arguments related to Purple Group CEO Charles Savage and CFO Gary van Dyk.
It is true that they were net buyers of shares – both in terms of the number of shares and the money spent.
However, the net buying of shares from Savage and Van Dyk was not the same as the on-market buying from directors, typically seen as a vote of confidence in the company.
As most of the trades were options with an immediate upside, it was merely a way for them to exercise and benefit from their options.
It should be highlighted that Savage and Van Dyk held on to millions of their option shares, which is a positive sign.
The tables below show the share trades from Purple Group CEO Charles Savage and CFO Gary van Dyk from January 2014.
Purple Group CEO Charles Savage’s share trades
| Date | Director | Type | Number | Price | Cashflow |
| 31-Aug-22 | Charles Savage | Sell | 7000000 | R2.05 | R14 350,000.00 |
| 03-Aug-22 | Charles Savage | Sell | 50000 | R2.06 | R102,900.00 |
| 06-May-22 | Charles Savage | Buy (Option) | 10000000 | R0.75 | -R7 535 000.00 |
| 14-Dec-21 | Charles Savage | Sell | 250000 | R0.98 | R245 000.00 |
| 10-Nov-21 | Charles Savage | Buy (Option) | 2000000 | R0.35 | -R702 000.00 |
| 17-Dec-20 | Charles Savage | Buy (Option) | 7000000 | R0.19 | -R1 337 000.00 |
| 30-Jul-20 | Sarah Savage | Sell | 150000 | R0.53 | R79 500.00 |
| 05-Feb-20 | Sarah Savage | Sell | 250000 | R0.37 | R93 000.00 |
| 20-Jan-20 | Charles Savage | Sell | 120000 | R0.41 | R49 200.00 |
| 06-Dec-19 | Charles Savage | Buy (Option) | 7000000 | R0.31 | -R2 170 000.00 |
| 30-Aug-19 | Sarah Savage | Sell | 664354 | R0.26 | R169 788.29 |
| 23-Jul-19 | Sarah Savage | Sell | 350000 | R0.29 | R101 500.00 |
| 02-May | Sarah Savage | Sell | 150000 | R0.30 | R45 000.00 |
| 06-Feb-19 | Sarah Savage | Sell | 500000 | R0.28 | R140 000.00 |
| 22-Jan-19 | Sarah Savage | sell | 370000 | R0.29 | R107 300.00 |
| 28-Dec-18 | Sarah Savage | Sell | 166667 | R0.30 | R50 000.10 |
| 28-Feb-18 | Kingsway trust (Charles Savage) | Sell | 1112979 | R0.28 | R311 634.12 |
| 28-Feb-18 | Charles Savage | Market buy | 21580 | R0.26 | -R5 610.80 |
| 08-Dec-16 | Charles Savage | Sell | 36000 | R0.55 | R19 800.00 |
| 21-Jul-16 | Charles Savage | Sell | 250000 | R0.60 | R150 000.00 |
| 11-Dec-15 | Charles Savage | Buy (Option) | 10000000 | R0.76 | -R7 600 000.00 |
| 28-Aug-15 | Charles Savage | Sell | 4000000 | R0.45 | R1 800 000.00 |
| 19-Feb-15 | Charles Savage | Buy (Option) | 7000000 | R0.12 | -R840 000.00 |
| 13-Nov-14 | Charles Savage | Buy (Option) | 2000000 | R0.38 | -R760 000.00 |
| 03-Feb-14 | Charles Savage | Off-market buy | 5000000 | R0.22 | -R1 100 000.00 |
Purple Group CFO Gary van Dyk’s share trades
| Date | Director | Type | Number | Price | Cashflow |
| 08-Dec-22 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 6000000 | R0.75 | -R4 521 000.00 |
| 31-Aug-22 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 1000000 | R2.15 | R2 150 000.00 |
| 31-Aug-22 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 4000000 | R2.05 | R8 200 000.00 |
| 29-Aug-22 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 4000000 | R0.75 | -R3 014 000.00 |
| 04-Jan-22 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 610000 | R2.99 | R1 823 900.00 |
| 24-Nov-21 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 80000 | R2.35 | R187 800.00 |
| 23-Nov-21 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 251000 | R2.40 | R601 420.10 |
| 22-Nov-21 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 59000 | R2.47 | R145 730.00 |
| 10-Nov-21 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 2000000 | R0.35 | -R702 000.00 |
| 17-Aug-21 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 2200000 | R1.40 | R3 080 000.00 |
| 19-Feb-21 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 500000 | R0.86 | R427 700.00 |
| 17-Dec-20 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 7000000 | R0.19 | -R1 337 000.00 |
| 05-Feb-20 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 300000 | R0.37 | R111 600.00 |
| 22-Jan-20 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 32000 | R0.40 | R12 800.00 |
| 21-Jan-20 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 54000 | R0.41 | R22 140.00 |
| 06-Dec-19 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 5500000 | R0.31 | -R1 705 000.00 |
| 12-Aug-19 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 500000 | R0.28 | R140 000.00 |
| 26-Jun-19 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 1000000 | R0.27 | R270 000.00 |
| 07-May-19 | Gary van Dyk | Sell | 1200000 | R0.29 | R348 000.00 |
| 11-Dec-15 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 10000000 | R0.76 | -R7 600 000.00 |
| 26-Aug-15 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 1968500 | R0.27 | -R531 495.00 |
| 19-Feb-15 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 6550000 | R0.12 | -R786 000.00 |
| 13-Nov-14 | Gary van Dyk | Buy (Option) | 2000000 | R0.38 | -R760 000.00 |
| 03-Feb-14 | Gary van Dyk | Off market buy | 5000000 | R0.22 | -R1 100 000.00 |
Comments