Although the S&P/ASX 200 index had a disappointing finish to the month, it still managed to record a solid gain of 1.3% in September.
Whilst the majority of shares on the index pushed higher, not all were able to record gains. Here's why these four shares were the worst performers on the benchmark index in September:
The Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) share price was the worst performer on the ASX 200 index last month with a 24.4% decline. The healthcare technology company's shares came under pressure in September when it revealed that two of its founders had each sold 1 million of the company's shares. Executive director Anthony Hall and CEO Sam Hupert sold the shares through an underwritten block trade for $36.10 per share or a total consideration of $36.1 million. And whilst the market was informed of these planned sales all the way back in February 2018, it didn't stop the selloff.
The CYBG PLC (ASX: CYB) share price was out of form again in September with a 18.4% decline. Investors were hitting the sell button last month after the UK-based bank was forced to increase its provisions for legacy PPI costs by between £300 million and £450 million. This was primarily driven by an unprecedented volume of PPI Information Requests received during August in advance of the August 29 deadline. It was significantly more than the market had expected and appeared disproportionately large in comparison to its peers.
The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price came under pressure and dropped 18.3% last month despite there being no news out of the global leader in the development of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence. This appears to have been driven by a combination of profit-taking in the information technology sector and concerns over its Figure Eight business.
The Bravura Solutions Ltd (ASX: BVS) share price wasn't far behind with a decline of 15.3% in September. As with Appen, there was no news out of the provider of software products and services to the wealth management and funds administration industries last month to cause this decline. I suspect that general weakness in the tech sector was the catalyst for the share price weakness, which has arguably created a buying opportunity for investors.
