It may be a whopping big trade, but it appears that shareholders in this ASX 200 industrial company need not worry.
Plumbing products manufacturer Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX: RWC) has announced that its CEO, Heath Sharp, sold 530,000 shares for $2,609,982 last week.
The details of the transaction imply that Sharp sold his shares at an average price of $4.92.
Today, the Reliance share price is $4.83, down 1.53%.
The sale took place on-market between 26 and 28 February.
The company notified the market yesterday and explained why Sharp had sold the stock.
Reliance Worldwide said the sale was made "to fund a personal property transaction".
Following the sale, Sharp still owns 1,268,247 shares in the ASX 200 industrial stock, along with 4,000,000 options and 3,395,331 rights.
What else is news with this ASX 200 industrial share?
Reliance Worldwide released its 1H FY25 results on 18 February.
Despite "subdued market conditions", Reliance reported a 14.8% increase in net sales to US$676.5 million and a 12.3% lift in adjusted net profit after tax (NPAT) to US$76 million.
The company announced an unfranked interim dividend of US 2.5 cents per share and an on-market buyback worth US$19.5 million.
The first half of FY25 was the first to include a full six-month contribution from the Holman
Industries business. Reliance Worldwide acquired Holman on 1 March 2024.
Sharp said the results reflected the ASX 200 company's ongoing execution focus, a strong contribution from Holman, and robust sales performance despite soft market conditions.
He said:
The seamless integration of Holman into RWC's Australian operations after acquisition in March 2024 has enabled us to perform strongly in the context of a weak Australian residential construction sector.
In the Americas, we delivered underlying sales growth of 5.4% which was a good result in light of tough trading conditions.
"EMEA continued to be our most challenging region. It was pleasing to see positive sales growth in Continental Europe, with all markets except Germany outperforming the prior period.
The UK plumbing and heating sector, however, continued to be challenged by weak housing market conditions with RWC's UK sales down 6.9%.
Forward guidance disappoints investors
The ASX 200 industrial company expects group external sales growth in the mid-single percentage range in FY25.
Management said the company was targeting an improvement in its consolidated EBITDA margin (excluding Holman) through cost reduction and efficiency initiatives.
Goldman Sachs was disappointed with management's guidance.
The broker said:
RWC expect FY25 external sales to be up MSD%. This compares with GSe of +9% and VA Consensus of +10%. Excluding Holman and Supply Smart – full year group external sales are expected to be flat (+/- LSD%), which compares with GSe growth of 3%.
Goldman has a buy rating on this ASX 200 industrial stock with a 12-month price target of $6.
