A single shareholder at Postmedia (
TSX:T.PNC.B,
Stock Forum) has sold 7,065,800 shares Thursday – nearly 18% of the 39 million Class B shares outstanding - just days after the company gave notice of an investor call and results release scheduled for October 23.
The trade drove the share price down to $1.65, a $0.10 drop from the open of $1.75.
The trade brought a flurry of sellers in its wake, which saw the share go as low as $1.51 before settling at $1.60. The 52-week high was $2.55.
That sort of volume is rare for Postmedia, which owns one national newspaper in The National Post, and several city daily newspapers such as The Vancouver Sun, The Province, the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette and Ottawa Citizen.
The 200 day average volume for Postmedia class B shares is just 1700, with an average of just 200 shares moving per day over the last 50.
Postmedia has been under pressure after several years of poor financial results, stemming largely from organizational restructuring and advertising revenue decreases.
The company has not released any news that might have inspired the share sale and, when contacted by Stockhouse, Phyllise Gelfand, VP of Communications, stated she had no knowledge of the situation, nor who the seller -or buyer- might be.
FULL DISCLOSURE: The author of this article is a former employee of Postmedia.