CIVIL engineering and construction group Stefanutti Stocks executives yesterday sold R354m worth of shares in an effort to improve liquidity in its stock.

CEO Willie Meyburgh told Business Day that the group had informed the market 18 months ago of its intention to sell shares and one large fund manager — which he did not want to name — offered to buy the shares.

"We were approached by a major local institutional investor telling us he was interested in buying these shares, which shows confidence in the group. So we wanted to do it in a structured way because this was an opportunity to sell and help the company with liquidity," Mr Meyburgh said.

The group’s shares dropped 1,2% to R12,35 after the announcement. He said the shares sold by the executive directors of Stefanutti represented only a small percentage of their entire shareholding.

Chairman Gino Stefanutti gained R321m by selling 26,3million shares, representing 14% of his holding in the company, leaving him with 10% of Stefanutti’s shares in issue. Mr Meyburgh sold 14% of his shares for R18,3m, while the group’s chief financial officer Dermot Quinn sold shares worth R4,3m.

Nonexecutive directors Bridgman Sithole sold R7,9m and Joseph Fizelle R2,5m worth of shares. The executives placed 32,7-million Stefanutti shares with a major local institutional investor. There is no intention to sell more shares in the group.

Tough trading conditions were visible in the group’s results for the year ended February, with revenue dropping 6,3% year on year to R7bn and after-tax profit slumping 14,4% to R333m.

The group’s order book held steady at R6,4bn, slightly up on the R6,2bn in the previous year.