Nathan ups his Asite stake

Days after Asite CEO Tony Ryan bought nearly £9,000-worth of shares in the company (see Now Tony invests in Asite), it has been announced that CTO Nathan Doughty has increased his stake by purchasing 65,362 shares at 3.41 pence each (total cost around £2,230). I am a little concerned at the timing: working for an Asite competitor, I have heard industry rumours suggesting Asite recently won a major deal….

At close of trading today, Asite’s share price was 3.125p, down 7% from its brief peak of 3.375p earlier this week.

Excess ‘spin’

Meanwhile, a news release, Asite on the road to success!, on Asite’s website puts a positive spin on Tony’s share purchase:

Asite has won full commitment of its current customers by prioritising integration and developing strong partnerships with them. Moreover, Asite’s customer base has been increasing and the forthcoming release of Asite Workspace and Asite Collaborative BIM makes Asite’s future growth very positive. Tony Ryan, CEO, has confirmed his commitment and strong belief in Asite’s success by acquiring shares.

I’m sorry Asite, but as a former journalist and a PR professional, I cringe when I read news releases like this. The opening sentences are vacuous puff unconnected with the factual content, ie: the shares purchase. How has the ‘full commitment of its current customers’ been demonstrated – are we talking new contracts? If so, say so; if not, say nothing. And how will two forthcoming software releases make “Asite’s future growth very positive”? This can only be speculation, particularly in relation to the Collaborative BIM product (see post).

Trading updates

While on the subject of financial announcements, other firms with activities in the AEC IT space have issued trading updates to the London Stock Exchange this week. Coda, parent company of Business Collaborator, says BC has “continued to perform strongly” in 2006, while Styles and Wood (which includes StoreData – see post and update) has “shown good growth across all four divisions”. They will be announcing full-year results on 15 March and 22 March respectively. No news on when Asite might publish its results – in 2006, we have had to wait until the end of May.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/01/nathan_ups_his_/

2 pings

  1. […] posts: Nathan ups his Asite stake (18 January 2007); Now Tony invests in Asite (15 January 2007); Nathan invests in Asite (05 June […]

  2. […] by a joint venture including Asite shareholder Laing O’Rourke) I knew about back in January when a couple of Asite directors bought shares in the company). Doubtless, this project is one […]

Comments have been disabled.