Mermaid Marine managing director Jeff Weber has picked up $4.5 million worth of the company's shares through the exercise of incentive options.
Mermaid today announced that Mr Weber exercised his managing director incentive options to snap up just over 1.4 million shares, at an exercise price of $3.05 per option.
The options were approved by shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in November 2009.
Mermaid Marine shares were trading today at $3.96, giving Mr Weber an instant paper profit of about 90 cents per share.
The purchase comes after Mr Weber sold 750,000 shares in December last year at $3.20 per share, raising $2.4 million.
The comapny said at the time the sale proceeds were to fund the exercise of the incentive options and the associated tax liabilities.
Mr Weber now holds more than 2.2 million shares in Mermaid Marine, valued around $8.9 million, at today’s share price.
Today's purchase follows the announcement last month of a strong lift in the company's half-year earnings, driven by services for the North West oil & gas sector.
It lifted revenue 15 per cent to $220 million and net profit by 18 per cent to $32.5 million.
