Smart Telecom loses #1m of value in share sell-off

Close to £1 million (€1.45 million) was wiped off the value of Smart Telecom yesterday as 19 million shares in the Irish company were sold in London.

Smart is currently in dispute with the communications regulator, ComReg, after the latter withdrew its offer to the company of a licence to operate a third generation (3G) mobile network in the Republic.

Two weeks ago the company succeeded in getting an injunction preventing ComReg from offering the licence to any of its rivals. The regulator has yet to respond to this, but has succeeded in getting the case moved to the Commercial Court, where the case will be expedited.

One analyst speculated this week that the regulator's decision to move the case to the Commercial Court indicated that ComReg wanted to offer the licence to the other candidate, Eircom, or its subsidiary, Meteor. Both applied separately for the 3G licence. The case was raised on Monday and adjourned for two more weeks.

Smart issued a statement yesterday pointing out that the legal proceedings between the pair were ongoing and saying that the interim injunction which the High Court granted the company was still in place.

The volume of shares sold on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) was more than 10 times the average number of Smart Telecom units traded on a daily basis.

The sell-off led to a fall in its price of 0.25 pence to 23.5 pence at the close of business last night. This was equivalent to just over 1 per cent of the company's value, or £1 million. Smart has close to 400 million shares in issue.

Two trades in excess of nine million units accounted for the bulk of the shares that changed hands. Sources suggested they could have been interfund trades, which would mean that only 2.5 per cent of the company was sold.