Board members dig deep after rough landing for Webjet scrip

Webjet's annual meeting on Wednesday was one that shareholders in the airline ticket and hotel booking group are unlikely to forget. When they turned up, the scrip had last fetched $2.86 and, in October, the shares had sold up to $3.87.

But when earnings guidance was given on Wednesday, the shares tumbled as low as $2.50, before closing at $2.71 - down 5 per cent.

Directors forecast earnings for the current year would weigh in at $21.5 million - about the normalised result for 2013.

So how was the market reaction received in the Webjet boardroom? Well, four of the six-man board hopped into the market and spent some $700,000.

The biggest buyer was non-executive director Steven Scheuer, who is far and away the largest shareholder in the Webjet boardroom. At various times last year, Mr Scheuer was a quantity seller of Webjet scrip, raising upwards of $7 million at an average price of about $3.60.

Webjet until recently was a market darling, its share price improving over four years until earlier this year at about 48 per cent compound a year.

Fetching $2.62 on Friday, the shares have halved since April.

Elsewhere, Andrew Forrest was a big buyer of Fortescue Metals Group, paying $5.50 a share, which compares with Friday's $5.84 closing price. His loyalty has been well rewarded: in September, he spent about $24 million, buying at $4.53.

Westpac chief Gail Kelly topped the sellers' table, having raised $30 million-plus from share sales during the past year or so.

Last week, Paula Dwyer spent about $67,000 on ANZ shares and also added to her stake in Tabcorp Holdings, where she is the chairwoman.

A clutch of Plymouth Minerals directors bought shares off-market at 6.8¢ and they are fetching 11.5¢ on the market.