Last week saw several Australian states close their borders for the first time in decades and neighbouring New Zealand lock down.

While there were a few less directors trades compared to the last four weeks, there were still 16.

Code Company Director Change Date Volume $ What
CCP Credit Corp Don McLay Buy 17 March 25,000 $514,034 On market
JLG John Lyng Group Scott Didier Buy 16 March 70,000 $147,877 On market
PVE Po Valley Energy Kevin Bailey Buy 31 January 2,071,559 $107,228.00 On market
NIC Nickel Mines Yuanyuan Xu Sell 20 March 28,000,000 $11,200,000 Off market
DDR Dicker Data David Dicker Buy 19 March 50,000 $239,185 ON market
OVT Ovato Michael Hannan Buy 23 March 21,000,000 $232,906 ON market
PNV PolyNono David Williams Buy 23 March 100,000 $140,000.00 On market
GAP Gale Pacific David Allman Buy 24 March 550,000 $116,032 On market
ADH Adairs Trent Peterson Buy 20 March 150,000 $184,711 On market
NRW NRW Holdings Julian Pemberton Sell 20 March 3,650,000 $4,964,701 On market
CCP Credit Corp Don McLay Buy 20 March 15,000 $186,148 On market
BTI Bailador Technology Investments Paul Wilson Buy 24 March 345,000 $175,445 On market
ARA Ariadne Australia Kevin Seymour Buy 24 March 2,353,220 $1,176,610 Off market
BTI Bailador Technology Investments David Kirk Buy 26 March 219,427 $231,539 Dividend Reinvestment plan
MCP McPhersons Graham Cubbin Buy 25 March 70,000 $123,690 On market
CGL Citadel Group Mark McConnell Buy 25 March 69,970 $123,872 On market
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A familiar name, Trent Petersen, once again bought Adairs (ASX:ADH) shares — $184,711 worth. The homeware retailer has had to close all its stores in Australia and New Zealand.

Although Friday’s announcement did not comment on whether or not online distribution in New Zealand was continuing, fellow retailer Kathmandu (ASX:KMD) said even online shopping could not continue in the country.

While Adairs finished last week higher than it began, it closed on Friday off its highs seen earlier in the week.

Graham Cubbin, director of wellness product seller McPhersons (ASX:MCP), bought $123,690 worth of shares.

The company is a distributor of more than a dozen market leading brands such as Manicare and Swisspers in Australia and Asia.

 

It pays to be “essential”

If you thought panic buying only happened in supermarkets, think again. Builder Johns Lyng Group (ASX:JLG) reported on Friday it had seen unprecedented demand for its services.

One of its directors, Scott Dider, bought $147,877 of shares on market last week.

The company told shareholders it was considered an essential service. Johns Lyng was one of the companies undertaking home repairs following the bushfires in December and January and the metropolitan storms in February.

A director of investment firm Ariadne Australia (ASX:ARA). made the biggest buy of the week.

Kevin Seymour dropped an extra $1.18m to pick up more shares.

 

Tech can’t escape the carnage

Tech stocks have been among the biggest hit and directors are continuing to take advantage of the falling prices.

Paul Wilson and David Kirk bought over $400,000 of tech investment firm Bailador Technology Investments (ASX:BTI) shares in the last week.

The company owns several rising tech firms, mostly unlisted, including hotel channel management solution SiteMinder and mortgage broker Lendi.

Citadel Group (ASX:CGL) founder Mark McConnell took another leap of faith in his company, buying a further $123,872 worth of shares.

One particularly hard hit sub-sector is buy now, pay later. Analysts and investors are concerned that defaults will rise among existing customers and there will be a drop off in new customers.

This concern has spread to receivables collector Credit Corp (ASX:CCP), which has shed over 70 per cent of its value since the crisis broke out. But this didn’t stop Don McClay from making a $186,711 buy.

Dicker Data (ASX:DDR) founder David Dicker bought $239,185 worth of his firms’ shares. The company distributes IT hardware, software, cloud and IoT solutions to reseller partners.

 

The sellers

Two directors made big sales last week. Julian Pemberton of NRW Holdings (ASX:NWH) sold nearly $5m. The company told shareholders he sold because he had a tax bill to pay.

The other seller was Yuanyuan Xu, who sold $11m worth of shares in producer Nickel Mines (ASX:NIC).

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