Meanwhile Wotif (WTF), the online accommodation and travel business, is also in play after someone grabbed a stake of 7.5 million shares in the company before trading opened yesterday morning.
That’s equal to around 3.5% of the company and is understood to have come from a shareholder who has been wanting to quit the stock for a while.
The shares were sold at a price of $2.40, and the buyer ended the day with a 25%, or 60c a share profit when they closed up 22% at $3, which was also the day’s high.
The ASX issued a "please explain" letter to the company, which responded by saying that it’s not aware of any reason for the rapid ramp up in its share price, or the unusually high volume.
The company did mention that senior management are meeting with investors this week.
Shares in the online travel company plunged sharply last December on an earnings downgrade which was sustained in the interim result released last month.
WTF 1Y – Wotif in play as big share block changes hand, shares surge
Wotif cut its interim dividend after revealing an 18% fall in first-half earnings to $22.6 million, compared with $27.5 million in the first half of 2012-13.
That was at the top end of its guidance issued in December, which confirmed the group was suffering rising cost pressures and margin compression.
The online travel group said the fall in earnings was primarily related to its increased spending on marketing.
Wotif said first half revenue of $75.8 million was a record and up 3.5%, but none of that stuck to the bottom line as those higher costs took their toll.
The company cut interim dividend to 10c a share down from 11.5c for the six months to December 2012.
The shares eased to end the day on $2.78 on February 27, when the results were released.
They have fallen since to around the $2.40 level as investor confidence in the company and its online model continues to fade.
Now it could be back in play and the shares are higher as a result. They were last at $3 in December when they fell sharply after the surprise earnings downgrade.
