Ardmore Shipping’s Anthony Gurnee is continuing to cash in on a profitable run for his company and the larger product tanker market.
The chief executive of the Cork, Ireland-based shipowner has sold 32,609 restricted shares that were awarded as a performance bonus in March 2022 for a total of $535,439, according to a filing after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.
The sale follows a $2.13m cash-out reported on 13 March as Gurnee sold 136,026 common shares he had purchased with his own funds in 2021.
The filing also lists four other share sales by the CEO since December, raking in around $900,000 in total.
Sales by Ardmore insiders mirror those at larger New York-listed rival Scorpio Tankers in the first weeks of this year.
As TradeWinds reported in January, president Robert Bugbee cashed in shares worth $45.4m one week, while Scorpio chief executive Emanuele Lauro converted stock worth $27.2m.
Like Ardmore, Scorpio shares have soared to several times their previous value in a prolonged recovery in the clean products market.
Ardmore shares were trading around $4 on 3 March 2022 at the time Gurnee received a performance grant of 81,525 units. The shares sold came from that cache, according to Monday’s filing.
Ardmore, the top-performing New York-listed shipping stock of 2022, closed on Monday at $16.76, up 2% on the day.
There was also a substantial windfall reported on Monday for Ardmore chief operating officer Mark Cameron.
He sold 30,343 common shares worth $498,232. These came from the same round of March 2022 restricted stock awards that benefited Gurnee.
The Ardmore officers’ sales came under a planned programme overseen by US investment bank Stifel, according to the filings.
While the Ardmore executives have not commented, Bugbee said at the time that his sales did not reflect any loss of confidence in the product market’s bull run.
“I’m long-term confident in the success of the company and we’re watching the spot market continue to improve even post my sales,” he said.
“However, it’s been a long road with STNG [Scorpio Tankers]. I was happy to put dollars on the table in the toughest times and the stock has gone up sixfold since the fourth quarter of 2021.”
Bugbee cited personal factors for selling amid a climate of unforeseen “black swan” events that have shaken shipping markets.
