ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX: ARB) shares are 0.89% higher at $34.56 on Friday.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 0.43% as it continues to recover from the global market sell-off.
ASX investors tend to take comfort in seeing company directors invest their own money into the businesses they run.
We can monitor such things because directors are required to disclose their personal trades in company stocks.
So, news of ARB directors Andrew Brown and Roger Brown buying another $1 million in shares is encouraging.
The purchase follows a 10.09% fall in the ARB share price over the past month.
Let's look at the details.
Image source: Getty Images
Directors snap up $1 million in ARB shares
ARB is Australia's largest designer, manufacturer, and distributor of four-wheel-drive and light commercial vehicle accessories.
The company has disclosed that Executive Director and Managing Director Andrew Brown and Non-Executive Director Roger Brown, who is Andrew's father, purchased 30,180 ARB shares to be held in common on-market on 11 and 12 March.
The pair paid an average price of $33.131 per ARB share. The total consideration was $999,893.
Roger Brown co-founded ARB and was the inaugural chair for 35 years after the company was listed in 1987.
He retired as chair in 2022.
The pair have not traded ARB stock since November 2021.
Back then, they sold 1 million ARB shares for $49.50 each, netting them $49.5 million.
At the time, the stock was trading close to its all-time record high, as the following chart shows.
What's the latest news from ARB?
The latest price-sensitive news came on 18 February, when the company released its 1H FY25 earnings report.
Over the six months to 31 December, ARB's revenue increased by 5.9% year over year to $361.7 million.
However, profits before tax slipped by 0.7% to $70.3 million. Profits after tax also fell by 0.6% to $51 million.
ARB declared an interim dividend of 34 cents per share, fully franked. That was the same as last year's interim dividend.
In a letter to shareholders, chair Robert Fraser said:
The Australian and world economies remain challenging.
Nonetheless, the Company's order book remains healthy relative to historical averages and daily sales order intake remains close to historical highs despite declines in new vehicle supply and reduced consumer discretionary spending.
The Board sees long-term growth opportunities in both Australia and export markets and is excited by the prospects
for its major US expansion strategy.
Investors were impressed with the report, with ARB shares closing 3.83% higher at $39.88 on the day.
Should you buy ARB shares?
The consensus rating among 15 analysts covering ARB shares on the CommSec platform is a hold.
