Hanoh Stark, a substantial shareholder of Sarine Technologies, has trimmed his stake in the company that provides equipment for the diamond industry.
The most recent transaction was on Jan 15 when he sold just over 4.53 million shares worth $1,948,375, or an average price of 43 cents per share.
Prior to this, Stark had sold nearly 2.09 million shares for $930,566.94 on Jan 8.
Following the latest sale, he now holds just under 12.98 million shares, or 3.7%, down from 17.5 million shares, or 5.004%. As his stake has dropped below the 5% mark, the company is no longer required to make further disclosures if he sells more. Prior to Stark’s sales, there had been no transactions by Sarine insiders since 2018.
Last October, Sarine said it has seen improving business conditions across the entire diamond industry value chain.
Industry leader De Beers had revised its preliminary sales numbers for August upwards to US$320 million ($426.5 million) from US$287 million. The corresponding figures for October was about US$467 million, suggesting growth momentum. “Other major producers’ sales of rough diamonds have increased commensurately. Rough prices at these two cycles have decreased an average 10% (in aggregate) as compared to before the pandemic outbreak,” says Sarine.
In addition, with higher prices of polished diamond on the back of renewed retail consumer demand, Sarine says margins enjoyed by midstream manufacturers have improved “significantly” too. The company notes that activity level in October had fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Nevertheless, the company is staying cautious. “While all current indications are positive, we would like to caution that as Covid-19 infections are again on the rise in Europe and various states of the United States, and that there is still no vaccine readily available, the current recovery is still tenuous.”
In the same update, Sarine says it generated revenue of around US$7.4 million for the 3QFY2020 ended September, up 25% q-o-q. The company managed to break even at the operating level, thanks to higher margins and better cost control. However, due to taxes of its subsidiaries, it reported losses of about US$0.4 million, although this was smaller than the previous quarter.
From recycling to rubber gloves
Raymond Ng, executive chairman of Enviro-Hub Holdings, has raised his stakes in the company. On Jan 18, he acquired 500,000 shares on the open market at 9.1 cents each. This follows an earlier transaction on Jan 14, where he bought 700,000 shares at 9.9 cents each. He now holds a direct stake of nearly 413.9 million shares, or 33.37%. In addition, he has a deemed stake of 0.44% held by his wife. In total, Ng owns 33.81% of the company.
On Dec 23, 2020, Enviro-Hub completed the private placement of some 206.75 million new shares at 4.2 cents each, raising $8.68 million in total. The placement, managed by Soochow CSSD Capital Markets (Asia), also increased the company’s share base to 1.24 billion shares.
The additional capital was immediately put to use by Enviro-Hub. From its existing core business of trading and recycling waste materials, Enviro-Hub has become the latest company to jump onto the glove-making bandwagon, taking advantage of the surge in demand for medical consumables amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Jan 12, Enviro-Hub entered into a conditional subscription and loan agreement to invest US$5 million in glove maker and trader Pastel Glove. Incorporated in September last year, Pastel Glove has yet to start operations as it is in the midst of setting up its production lines and obtaining the required licences. Upon completion of the subscription, Enviro-Hub will own 25% of Pastel Glove.
