Here’s our weekly look at which ASX small cap directors are buying or selling their own stock (week of Oct 12):

There was little selling last week but directors were out in force amassing sizeable stakes in the companies they work for.

Of the notable trades last week 12 directors forked out their own cash, either through on-market or off-market trades or dividend reinvestments.

>> Scroll down for a list of the biggest trades last week

Hongwei Cai at Dongfang Modern Agriculture (ASX:DFM) spent $6m on company stock.

The 31-year-old chairman owns 64 per cent of the company, down from 80 per cent in 2016.

The citrus grower produces and sells all of its fruit in China.

Dongfang shares began a rapid rise at the end of 2017 as the ‘China food’ theme gained traction. It then collapsed and has sat around $1 since June.

Dongfang stock over the last year.

He was followed by Metals X (ASX:MLX) chairman Peter Newton — not quite as much of a spring chicken as Mr Cai — who spent $880,000 on market.

Days before Metals X released its quarterly report, saying earnings were up and costs at both the tin and copper operations were down.

Next on the list is the managing director of industrial equipment maker Zicom (ASX:ZGL) Giok Sim. He owns 50 per cent of the company now, after buying a little more stock — 6.5m shares — on market.

Scott Didier listed his family’s ‘panel beater of the insurance world’ — aka an emergency building works — in October last year and is the only director to have been quietly buying here and there since.

Mr Didier’s 26 per cent of Johns Lyng Group (ASX:JLG) is on paper worth over $52m. When the company listed, it was worth $60m.

Mr Didier has been branching out into property and accommodation, buying the East Brunswick Hotel in Melbourne in 2017, in order to bring his children into his business empire.

Richard Homsany lifted his stake in Redstone Resources (ASX:RDS) to 11 per cent last week, while Grant Davey was also buying but this time at Superior Lake Resources (ASX:SUP).

Mr Davey has featured among the big dealers of directors trading in the past but for Boss Resources (ASX:BOE) and Matador Mining (ASX:MZZ).

Last week he lifted his interest in the Canada-focused zinc explorer to 7.6 per cent by spending $127,374 on market.

He is also on the boards of Cradle Resources Limited (ASX:CXX) and Graphex Mining Limited (ASX:GPX).

There was one notable sale last week: Anthony Wooles had to sell $310,000 of Imdex (ASX:IMD) shares to settle a tax bill.

Sweat equity

The happiest fellows and single lady were the ones getting their ‘free’ shares last week.

At Dampier Gold (ASX:DAU) chairman Malcolm Carson and and director Hui Guo received 3m incentive shares each, which on Friday were worth $120,000.

The Kalium Lakes (ASX:KLL) boys Brett Hazelden and Philippus van Niekerk received 1.05m and 300,000 shares as part of a performance incentive plan.

Mr Hazelden’s package was worth $399,000 on paper on Friday, while Mr van Neikerk was worth $114,000.

And lastly, the managing director and CEO of Australia’s most intriguingly coded gas company Senex Energy (ASX:SXY), Ian Davies, exercised stock appreciation rights for $2m worth of stock.

Stock appreciation rights are like options and are given to staff and management if a company performs well. But unlike options, the owner doesn’t have to pay anything to exercise them.

ASX code Company Director Change Date Volume $ Where Total holdings controlled
AGS Alliance Resources Ian Gandel Buy Oct 10-16 3m 405174 On market 29.9m
DFM Dongfang Modern Agriculture Group Hongwei Cai Buy Oct 15 6m 6060000 Off market 270m
HOM Homeloans Warren McLeland Buy Oct 12 185,505 106327 Dividend reinvestment plan 12m
HOM Homeloans Cholmondeley Darvall Buy Oct 16 300,000 $186,000 Off market 1.7m
SUP Superior Lake Resources Grant Davey Buy Oct 12 2.7m 127374 On market 65m
SXY Senex Energy Ian Davies Buy Oct 15 4.3m 0 Exercise rights 6.3m
DAU Dampier Gold Marcolm Carson Buy Oct 16 3m 0 Incentive shares 3m
DAU Dampier Gold Hui Guo Buy Oct 16 3m 0 Incentive shares 3m
IMD Imdex Anthony Wooles Sell Oct 11-16 250,000 310000 On market 1.25m
JLG Johns Lyng Group Scott Didier Buy Oct 12, 15, 16 240,000 203847 On market 58m
KLL Kalium Lakes Brett Hazelden Buy Oct 17 1.05m 0 Issue of shares under performance plan 14.7m
KLL Kalium Lakes Philippus van Neikerk Buy Oct 17 300,000 0 Issue of shares under performance plan 1.5m
MLX Metals X Peter Newton Buy Oct 16 2m 880000 On market 16.1m
PEA Pacific Energy James Cullen Buy Oct 15 300,000 161700 On market 500,000
ZGL Zicom Group Giok Sim Buy Oct 17 6.5m 534148 On market 108m
RDS Redstone Resources Richard Homsany Buy Oct 9,10,11 17.2m 291528 On market and entitlement offer 52m

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