This week only six directors traded $100,000 or more. So we’ve also recapped some big directors’ trades from earlier this year seeing if they paid off – including that millennial director who spent $100,000 on his company rather than a house deposit.

This week’s buyers

Whenever a director buys in a company it is often a sign of confidence, particularly when they make up a rights issue shortfall. Big River Gold (ASX: BRV) director Stephen Copulos did that, having bought $2.4 million.

Haven’t heard of Big River Gold before? It only just changed its name from Crusader Resources. The Brazil-focused gold explorer was suspended for nine months and was reinstated this week.

Gindalbie Metals (ASX: GBG) is another miner undergoing a restructure. While some of the company will be acquired by Ansteel, other assets will be spun off into a new company – Coda Minerals.

This week, directors Paul Hallam bought $134,434 and Keith Jones bought $280,000. It is unclear whether these shares will be in Coda or be acquired by Ansteel.

Coda was to be unlisted but shareholder Sandon Capital requested the company list them and consequently ASIC have granted relief.

New Zealand used car seller Turners Automotive (ASX: TRA) had a successful year last year recording a $27 million profit. Director Martin Berry bought NZ$1,150,000 ($1,099,000), having owned no shares previously during his 11-month tenure.

Linius Technology (ASX: LNU) directors Gerard Bongiorno and Stephen McGovern bought $300,000 and $200,000 respectively in a placement, only days after a deal with SportsHero to use its VR technology.

Code Company Director Change Date Volume $ What Total holdings
TRA Turners Automotive Group Martin Berry Buy 5 July 500,000 $1,099,000 On market 500,000
GBG Gindalbie Metals Keith Jones Buy 9 July 10,000,000 $280,000 On market 24,878,941
GBG Gindalbie Metals Paul Hallam Buy 9 July 5,125,000 $143,434 On market 5,225,000
BRV Big River Gold Stephen Copulos Buy 4 July 240,000,000 $2,400,000 Right issue 350,871,102
LNU Linius Technologies Stephen McGovern Buy 5 July 5,714,284 $200,000 Placement 45,714,284
LNU Linius Technologies Gerard Bongiorno Buy 5 July 8,571,430 $300,000 Placement 16,654,764
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Who’s gained this year?

You might invest in a small cap thinking it could turn your small holiday into a big holiday. Maybe fund a house deposit, or your daily avocado toast habit.

Perhaps you’re foregoing them all for a long term gain.

29-year-old Reece Pharmaceuticals (ASX: RCE) director James Graham certainly is. Rather than plumping for property, he put $100,000 into his own company in March, telling Stockhead he anticipated success. And thus far he has, returning nearly 45%.

But this is nothing compared to Uniti Wireless’ (ASX: UWL) Vaughan Bowen who has gained nearly 400 per cent on his $951,000 investment into his company. Nor Hot Chili’s (ASX: HCH) Murray Black whose $509,523 investment in late March has gone up nearly four times and is now worth nearly $2 million.

Two other trades with modest returns were Dacian Gold’s (ASX: DCN) Barry Patterson who has gained 23 per cent on his $979,615 investment. Meanwhile Eden Innovations’s (ASX: EDE) Douglas & Gregory Solomon’s $409,738 buy between them is now worth $494,000 – a gain of 21 per cent.

You’d think Oneview Healthcare (ASX: ONE), as the only Irish company on the ASX, would be overly affected by Brexit but it is unchanged in two months. So James Fittler’s $300,000 investment is still worth $300,000.

Others weren’t so lucky…

On the other hand, other directors have lost on big trades this year. For instance, Charles Lew put $1 million into Hastings Technology Metals (ASX: HAS) after it only raised 16 per cent of the money it wanted in its rights issue. Unfortunately he has lost nearly $145,000 on it within two months.

Michael Hill’s (ASX: MHJ) Robert Fyfe lost 22 per cent on his $502,621 gamble in March while Ian Gandel has been unlucky with his $1.6 million Alliance Resources (ASX: AGS) investment that has lost 7 per cent.

Hongwei Cai took a $4.3 million punt on Dongfang Agricultural (ASX: DFM) in late May. But only three weeks later board resignations left the company short of the legal quota of three directors with at least two Australian residents. So the stock has been suspended for the last month.

Code Company Director Date of Buy Shares Share price Worth then Share price (1pm Friday) Worth now % Return
DCN Dacian Gold Barry Patterson 6 June 2,000,000 0.48 $979,615 0.6 $1,200,000 22.50%
UWL Uniti Wireless Vaughan Bowen 13 March 3,187,726.00 0.30 $951,560.62 1.48 $4,717,834 396%
DFM Dongfang Agricultural Hongwei Cai May 24 5,000,000 0.845 $4,225,000 0.83 $4,150,000 -1.80%
HAS Hastings Technology Metals Charles Lew May 23 5,900,000 0.17 $1,000,000 0.145 $855,500 -14.50%
ONE Oneview Healthcare James Fittler May 16 1,200,000 0.25 $300,000 0.25 $300,000 0
AGS Alliance Resources Ian Gandel May 3 16,478,719 0.10 $1,600,000 0.09 $1,483,085 -7.30%
HCH Hot Chili Murray Black March 27 50,952,326 0.01 $509,523 0.039 $1,987,141 296%
MHJ Michael Hill Robert Fyfe March 20 763,640 0.66 $502,621 0.515 $393,275 -21.70%
EDE Eden Innovations Douglas & Gregory Solomon March 8 7,600,000 0.052 $409,738 0.065 $494,000 21%
RCE Reece Pharmaceuticals James Graham March 7 650,000 0.15 $100,460 0.225 $146,250 46%
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