Telecommunications company Stentor has told the London Stock Exchange that its chairman has sold 75,000 shares. Stentor said the chairman, Mr Dan O'Neill, had charged the shares to his bankers "in contravention of covenants contained in the placing agreement" between Mr O'Neill, Stentor and its nominated advisers.
Mr O'Neill told the company that sales of the shares took place without his knowledge and could not therefore be notified.
The shares were sold in two tranches - 25,000 at 144.5p on May 6th last year and 50,000 at 133p in February this year.
Stentor said that, during the course of the company's annual audit, it had been brought to the attention of its directors that the shares had been sold. Market sources said such an occurrence was unusual.
Stentor's shares are quoted on the Alternative Investments Market (AIM).
Mr O'Neill still holds 13,107 shares, or 0.11 per cent of the company's ordinary share capital. Approximately 11.9 million shares are in issue.
A company spokesman said last night that Mr O'Neill was a non-executive chairman. The spokesman said he had nothing to add to the statement to the stock exchange.
Stentor's shares have been suspended for about six weeks as it has said it is in negotiations with another company about a possible reverse takeover.
However, industry sources have expressed surprise that the deal is taking so long.
When the shares were suspended, the company's chief executive, Mr Patrick Cruise O'Brien, said most parts of the deal were concluded but an announcement was still some days off.
The company was formed in 1996 and offers private phone network services to Irish customers through switches in the US and elsewhere. It latest results showed losses of £1.6 million in the six months to September 1997 and revenues of £120,000.
Market sources are predicting losses for the full year to be in excess of £4 million on revenues of around £1.2 million.
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