Yates takes some sociable scrip

Peter Yates headed the buyers this week with his purchase of shares in the low-profile MOKO Social Media.

The former Packer employee now has his foot on 10 per cent of MOKO, which develops customised mobile community applications to improve communications within groups such as universities and sports bodies.

The stock has doubled over the past month and appears to have got a wriggle-on due to the signing of an agreement with a website used by sports departments in more than 600 colleges in the US.

He picked up scrip at 10¢ apiece through an off-market transfer on a day when the shares were fetching 16¢ on the market.

At Friday's closing price of 20¢, the market now values the company at $94 million, compared with a cash-flow deficit of $1.7 million and a $5.7 million pre-tax loss in the year to June 30.

The overall scorecard registered $1.2 million to $9.8 million in favour of sellers.

Heading the sellers' table as far as ordinary shares were concerned was Peter Halkett, Kathmandu Holdings chief. The shares have rallied up to 29 per cent since the company released its yearly results last month.

Halkett peeled off 38 per cent of his stake and collected about $3.14 a share.

Weighing in near the bottom of the buyers' list was Lev Mizikovsky, executive chairman of AstiVita Renewables, which sells bathroom, kitchenware and solar products.

Tiny it may be, but big - and rare on the corporate stage - were Mizikovsky's words in his recent chairman's review, where he apologised to shareholders "for not identifying early enough that the structural changes within our industry are permanent and fundamental in nature and were not just temporary negative trading conditions".