Computershare down-loaded

Christopher Morris, the man behind Computershare, topped the sellers' table this week, weighing in with one of his biggest stock sales.

He tipped nearly $15 million of stock into the market and the proceeds contributed to the $42 million-plus sales made by him during the past few years.

Computershare provided its shareholders with some wonderful gains up until 2007, but since then the shares have been bouncing around within a range of about $7 to $11 or $12.

Morris helped the overall sellers' tally top $55 million, compared with $8.5 million for those directors doing a bit of buying.

A more lucrative conveyance has been Ramsay Health Care, which increased "core" earnings by 15 per cent to $291 million in the June year, and which now sits on a hefty 25 times earnings.

Christopher Rex, the chief of the country's biggest private hospital operator, earlier this year extended his contract until 2016 and chairman Paul Ramsay described Rex's performance as outstanding.

Rex has just cashed in a few chips, raising nearly $11 million from the sale of shares at $36.26 - about 5 per cent below the paper's recent all-time high.

Also no slouch in the appreciation stakes has been Mermaid Marine, where managing director Jeffrey Weber sold shares. He said the proceeds would be used to pay the cost of exercising options and associated tax.

Zygmunt Switkowski likes to buy shares in useful quantities. He's just put $213,250 into Oil Search scrip. Last month he spent $367,800 on Suncorp Group shares.

Very brave punters who like beaten-up stocks could take a look at Capral, where relatively new chief Anthony Dragicevich has recently paid 18.5¢ and now 21¢ for scrip in the semi-fabricated aluminium products group.