Elite chairman acquires bigger stake, joins top owners
Published:Sunday | April 17, 2022 | 12:07 AM
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A director of Elite Diagnostics bought a large block of shares from another large shareholder, rallying the stock at one point near its one-year high. The transaction between Elite Chairman Steven Gooden and Excel Investments during April 8 to 12...
A director of Elite Diagnostics bought a large block of shares from another large shareholder, rallying the stock at one point near its one-year high.
The transaction between Elite Chairman Steven Gooden and Excel Investments during April 8 to 12 was one of the largest share movements for Elite – amounting to 10 per cent of the company – since its listing on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange four years ago.
Gooden represents Elite shareholder NCB Capital Markets Limited on the board, but he also held a small number of shares, 242,230, amounting to 0.07 per cent interest in Elite up to December 2021, according to the most recent disclosure of the medical company’s large shareholders.
In a market filing last week, Elite said a connected party, which the Financial Gleaner later determined to be Excel Investments, sold just under 35.5 million of its shares or 10 per cent interest in Elite while a director acquired 35 million shares, or 9.9 per cent interest.
“I can confirm that I acquired the shares,” Gooden said on Thursday, noting that he did so in his personal capacity but otherwise declined to comment on the transaction.
The price paid for the shares was not disclosed, but they have since gained in value and are now worth $125 million.
Elite’s stock price spiked to $3.84 on Wednesday but settled at $3.57 on Thursday, up from $2.58 million on April 8 and closer to its one-year high of $4.40.
Within the week, since April 8, Elite’s market value has climbed 38 per cent from $912 million $1.26 billion.
The ownership change will be reflected in Elite’s June quarter financial report, which is due for filing by mid-August.
Prior to the transaction, Excel Investments owned nearly 37 per cent of Elite, holdings shared by company founders Warren Chung and Neil Fong. Chung has announced his retirement as CEO of Elite to spend more time with family.
NCB Capital is the second largest Elite shareholder with a near 19 per cent stake. Gooden becomes the third largest owner, a slot that formerly belonged to JCSD Trustee Services–Sigma Optima, which holds 8.9 per cent of Elite shares.
Elite operates a medical scanning business from its base at Holborn Road in New Kingston and branches at Liguanea, Kingston, and Drax Hall, St Ann. The decade-old company was taken public and its 353.4 million shares listed four years ago in February 2018.
Since then, the company’s turnover has been climbing, amid expansion, with its revenue topping half-billion dollars last year.