Athlone Extrusions has had a pretty dismal time since it was brought to the market by NCB 12 months ago and even a 17 per cent rise in profits to £4.2 million (#5.3 million) in its first year as a plc has not prevented the shares taking a bath. A year ago, the company floated at 91p (#1.16) - now the shares are trading at #0.87 cents.
So, it was with interest that Cur- rent Account noticed the decision by Athlone's former chairman, Pat Plunkett, to unload 1.5 million shares last week at a bottom-of-the-market price of #0.84.
After being the main financial engineer in the initial management buyout of Athlone, Pat Plunkett - former managing director of ABNAmro Stockbrokers - resigned as chairman of Athlone ahead of the flotation to be replaced by Jack Hayes.
Mr Plunkett also retired from ABN-Amro to concentrate on other business interests, including his fledgling Sean Og's Irish pub chain in Germany. Now he has sold half his shareholding for the best part of £1 million, just as the shares touched bottom and had shown few signs of recovery.
He may have simply needed additional cash to fund his other business interests, but the sight of a major shareholder unloading shares at an all-time low for the shares is not a reassuring sight, especially for small shareholders. Still at the current level, the shares are on a forward p/e of under 8 based on NCB's forecast earnings of #0.11, and that does not seem particularly expensive for a company that may not be particularly exciting but has the potential for decent earnings growth.
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