Carsales chair cashes out with a few nice little earners

Walter Pisciotta, the chairman of carsales.com, last sold scrip in October last year.

He collected more than $9 million when he let some shares go at $7.79 apiece. A few weeks before that he raised nearly $15 million selling some at $7.39.

Anyone who would prefer not to buy shares from a director - particularly when prices are at more or less all-time highs - can now look at the current $9.77 share price and ponder the validity of that particular aversion.

In recent days he has sold shares at $9.63 each - which compares with a $9.99 all-time high.

Low earnings multiple aficionados might also have missed out on carsales.com's handy little run since listing in 2010.

The group went public at $3.50 a share on a forecast multiple of 22 times earnings; buyers on the first day of listing had to pay about $3.92 or close to 25 times earnings.

Those punters who held on are now looking at something like 42 per cent compound growth.

Pisciotta, a University of Alabama graduate who has been chairman of carsales.com since inception, retains a $143 million stake.

Elsewhere among the sellers, Reginald Nelson, the long-time chief of Beach Energy, again disposed of stock.

Recently he collected $1.4 million, now he's added a further $460,980 to the selling total.

Beach scrip has more than doubled in the past few years.

Elsewhere, Ben Elias, the chairman of Kupang Resources, a manganese project holder in West Timor, nearly trebled his stake in the West Timor manganese project operator.

Other resource counters also featured on the buyers' list with an interest associated with two directors of Red Hill Iron resuming buying after a four-month break, and at a greatly reduced price compared with last year.