Up 20%: Why the 1-Page Ltd share price is going nuts today

1-Page Ltd (ASX:1PG) shares flew 20% higher today following a decision by co-Founder Patrick Riley to sell a large part of his stake in the business.

Owen Raszkiewicz

Owen Raszkiewicz is a Motley Fool Contributor. Owen has been a Contributor since 2013, having also spent time as a Fool writer/analyst. He also worked as an Investment Analyst at Zenith Investment Partners, Australia's top research house specialising in managed funds. Owen has appeared on Channel 10's The Project and was invited on the BBC. He holds a Masters of Applied Finance, Masters of Financial Planning, Bachelor of Technology, Advanced Diploma of Financial Services and Diploma of Mortgage Broking Management. In addition, Owen has passed Level 1 of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program. He has taken the Banking + Finance Oath (BFO). When he is not writing, Owen is Managing Director of Rask Finance, an Australian financial education company. You can email him: [email protected].

Published December 13, 2016 3:26 pm AEDT

The 1-Page Ltd (ASX: 1PG) share price flew 20% today after the company made a key announcement to shareholders.

In a statement to the ASX, 1-Page announced that its co-Founder, Patrick Riley, sold 9,000,000 shares in the talent acquisition business for a total of $2.25 million, or $0.25 each.

Mr Riley's daughter, 1-Page's CEO and Managing Director, Joanna Riley, said the deal was part of a block trade to Hong-Kong based Peterson Group. She said the deal will see her father step back from the day-to-day running of 1-Page "for estate planning purposes".

"It has been great getting to know Peterson Group over the last few months, and how they align with our vision, growth plans and current management," Ms Riley added. "To have them as an investor and partner as we go after this tremendous opportunity in the $456B global recruitment space is invaluable."

Now what

1-Page shares, along with those of a number of other speculative small-cap technology businesses, have been rocked by a swing in investor sentiment over the past 12 months. For 1-Page that has meant a fall in share price from around $4.94 in late 2015 to just 20 cents currently.

It serves as a timely reminder that when you consider an investment in this type of company, it may be wise to 'be there for a good time, not a long time'.

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