UK 03:28 Friday, 9 October 2026
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Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from ShareProphets). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
It is hat-tip time once again to Jason. He’s understandably a bit miffed - he feels that Dart Shareholders were not given full disclosure of the true picture with IGas (IGAS) ahead of the recommended takeover of Dart in relation to the shareholding of IGas CEO Andrew Austin. He thought that Mr Austin actually HELD almost 11m shares in the company offering its own paper to buy Dart, but it seems that in fact he held fewer than 3,500,000 shares, with the rest in the form of an option. I would feel the same in his shoes. And so I thought it time to get to the truth about Mr Austin’s director interests and director holdings.
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Comments
alcira16247
Great work, Nigel!
Mr Austin would be well advised to come clean about these dealings asap! It must be obvious to him, by now, that ShareProphets are on the case and its just not going to go away!
If Mr Austin, if YOU have done wrong and have acted dishonestly as charged………. be a man….. acknowledge and walk away!
DavidW
Well if you take e) 10,968,182 from a) 10,968,182 you get 1107 which is the no of shares AA has put into his Share Incentive Plan from his original holdings so the phrase ‘storm in a teacup’ springs to mind. I guess you guys are really desperate to close out those shorts!
nigel somerville
David, I think you miss the point: the ‘clarification’ had plain wrong numbers in it. In fact, the figure quoted for Austin’s holding is the figure quoted when he entered the EFH facility as announced 16 Jan. Yet he is on record as having bought more shares several times (not just once, as you seem to think) since then. That Nov figure is just wrong. So much for Nomad Jefferies checking and verifying….cue a correction to the clarification to the re-affirmation of the 16 Jan RNS! Sounds ridiculous, but that is where we are!
You might also consider why that figure was wrong. Is it because that clarification (which rather flies in the face of the previous non-clarification that all was ‘full and correct’) might have been just ever so slightly hurried? Why would that be?
And of course there is poor Mr Austin’s pittance to think about….and all those free options
Oh…and whether Dart’s former shareholders might feel they’ve been misled over the takeover offer
Not so sure it is a storm in a teacup….if it is, then no doubt all the questions will be properly and fully answered – and if there was nothing to hide, why has that still not happened?
In the light of the above, I am drawn to Tom’s comments that well run companies don’t behave like this.