Today Agora will release for public trading 2.34 m shares from management stock-option plan and from registered shares, representing 4% of the total shares outstanding. However, members of the management would be allowed to dispose of the shares only in 2 weeks time, after expiry of black out period before publication of 2Q06 results, on August 3rd. The amount of shares, which management bought in most part at the nominal value of PLN 1, is lower compared with last year’s 4 m shares, when it included employee shares.
Our view: Based on previous years’ experience, we would not anticipate any major negative trading impact from the increased supply of shares. However, the situation has changed after the stock price almost halved over the past year, and we might see a continued price weakness on Agora in the run up to August 3rd.