European Goldfields non-exec makes £23m profit

Non-executive director Dimitrios Koutras has made a £23m profit on European Goldfields shares he bought in November 2008.

Koutras sold 6,684,641 shares at 435p a share to institutional investors, thereby widening the shareholder base of the gold miner and explorer. The sale raised £29.08m. That takes his stake in European Goldfields back to 5.7%, which he describes as his core shareholding. He has no intention of selling any more shares.

Koutras bought exactly the same number of shares during November 2008 at a total cost of just over £6m. He points out that the purchase was made at a time when the management needed to indicate its support for the company.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

That means that Koutras made a profit of £23m in less than 18 months.

European Goldfields' largest shareholder Aktor Constructions International, which has a 19.4% stake, says that it has no plans to sell shares.

Koutras joined the European Goldfields board in November 2004 and was chairman until last October. He is also president of Aktor.

European Goldfields has 10m ounces of gold reserves in the EU. There is one mine in Greece generating cash and three more projects in Greece and Romania.

Loss-making European Goldfields had $113.6m in the bank at the end of 2009. The 2010 exploration budget is $15m.

Top Director Buys

Xploite (XPT) Director name: Mr Ian SmithAmount purchased: 220,513 @ 36.00p Value: £79,385

Top Director Sells

European Goldfields Limited (EGU) Director name: Mr Dimitrios KoutrasAmount sold: 6,684,641 @ 435.00p Value: £29,078,188

Halfords Group (HFD) Director name: Mr Paul McClenaghanAmount sold: 44,875 @ 475.00p Value: £213,156

Halfords Group (HFD) Director name: Mr Nick WhartonAmount sold: 22,438 @ 475.00p Value: £106,580