| Buyer | No. of shares bought | Date(s) | Stock price (July 26 Monday start) | Stock price (July 30 Friday end) | |
| VENTURE CORPORATION | Aberdeen Asset Management | 198,000 | July 23 | $9.45 | $9.15 |
| GREAT GROUP | Weng Wenju (executive director) | 376,000 | July 26 | 26.5 c | 28 c |
| 8 TELECOM | Company share buyback | 100,000 + 160,000 + 50,000 | July 27, 28, 29 | 18 c | 18 c |
INFORMATICS |
Kestrel Capital Partners | 39.2 m + 30.101 m + 16.064 m | July 23, 26, 27 | 9 c | 13.5 c |
| OSIM INTERNATIONAL | Company share buyback | 1.124 m + 1.653 m + 902,000 + 100,000 | July 26, 27, 28, 29 | $1.02 | $1.06 |
With the 2Q results season having just got under way, the number of company share buybacks has fallen sharply owing to a blackout period prior to the release of the results.
Osim International (market cap: S$749 million), having just released a good set of results, has gotten back to buying its shares in great earnest. Last week, it bought back 3.779 million shares.
The stock closed up 4 cents for the week to $1.06. What a long way up it has come from a mere 5 cents back in Dec 2008!
For more, read: OSIM, OCEANUS: What analysts now say....
8 Telecom (market cap: S$86 million) has also resumed buying back its shares, chalking up 310,000 shares last week.
However, director Yu Chunxiang had sold all his 1 million shareholding in the previous week via a married deal. Conventional wisdom holds that an insider may sell his shares for any good reason but he buys for only one reason - he expects the stock price to go up.
8 Telecom's business has been doing well. In the first quarter of this year, 8Telecom’s net profit shot up 73% to RMB6.5 million.
It has started to reap gains from the appreciation of property it bought years ago while its core business continues to thrive - it manufactures and installs telecom pipes and towers, a clear beneficiary of strong demand for 3G infrastructure.
Recent story: 8TELECOM strikes gold in China's urbanization
Over at Great Group (market cap: $74 million), its executive director, Weng Wenju, continued to buy shares of the company last week. He had owned nothing prior to May 19 this year but now owns 1.808 million shares.
The stock closed last week at 28 cents, still below the IPO price of 29.5 cents when it was listed in Sept last year. Since then, the company has had a very low profile.
It is mainly engaged in the design, manufacture, distribution and sales of men’s and women’s undergarments. The Group also manufactures and sells children’s and infants’ apparel.
Recent story: GREAT GROUP: Underwear maker taking steps to bolster bottom line
