Escrow Watch: 534 million shares to be released this fortnight, including 363 million on Halloween

Want to know when shares are coming out of escrow? We’ve been keeping tabs, so you don’t have to.

Every two weeks, Stockhead takes a look at the small cap companies that are releasing shares that have been locked away in escrow.

Escrow refers to shares that are held by early investors or directors restrained from selling for a year or two.

The release of escrowed shares can have a big impact on stock price, because a sudden influx of stock onto the market can depress the shares you own.

Over the coming fortnight, 534 million shares are hitting the ASX; 363 million of which on Halloween.

The vast majority of these shares belong to Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS) which listed back in April 2018. The stock is below the 40 cent price the IPO capital was raised at and shareholders will be free to sell it in time if they’re running short of cash for candy.

Also releasing shares on Halloween is employment agency The GO2 People (ASX:GO2), which will be releasing 64.5 million shares — more than half of its issued share capital. Two years on from its IPO, it is only 10 per cent of its original price — at 2 cents. Spooky.

While WiseTech (ASX:WTC) is releasing relatively few of them, it is arguably the most noteworthy of all the companies releasing escrowed shares. All appeared to be going well until short-seller J Capital struck — its two reports wiped more than $2 billion from its market capitalisation.

Code	Company	Date of Release	Shares	% of company
OGA	Ocean Grown Abalone	14 November	19,752,567	11.30%
SKY	Sky Metals	7 November	4,200,000	1.60%
IDX	Integral Diagnostics	8 November	106,830	0.05%
CLB	Candy Club	12-13 November	6,199,844	3.60%
HSC	HomeStay Care	13 November	143,000,000	17.90%
TLX	Telix Pharmaceuticals	15 November	67,556,748	26.70%
VRT	Virtus Health	15 November	87,946	0.01%
WNB	Wellness & Beuaty solutions	12 November	25,862,776	7.40%
INP	Incentiapay	13 November	5,714,285	2.40%
SVD	ScandiVanadium	14 November	5,357,144	1.50%
360	Life360	11 November	4,891,413	3.30%
5GN	5G Networks	18 November	16,014,507	24.40%
TMG	Trigg Mining	20 November	1,200,000	2.10%
CNL	Celamin Holdings	19 November	617,605	0.40%

Not all go out on Halloween

Also releasing shares this fortnight is Stavely Minerals (ASX:SVY) — 4 per cent of its share capital. The spookiness out of this company was a good kind — a 40 per cent copper hit. It quadrupled in a month.

Ed-tech stock ReadyTech (ASX:RDY) is releasing more than 50 million shares, nearly 30 per cent of its shares. It only listed in April but has gained 28 per cent since listing.