Sports Resorts Dn 36% In 2 Days; CEO Doesn't Know Why
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
By John Seward
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -- Sports Resorts International Inc. (SPRI ) shares sank as much as 45% in the past two days before recovering slightly.
Chairman and Chief Executive Donald J. Williamson, who holds a 49% stake in the company, said he doesn't know why the sell-off happened.
"If I had to speculate, I'd say it's the shorts," Williamson said.
About 1.4 million shares were held as short interest as of April 8, or nearly 6% of the shares in public float.
Shares nosedived Friday on a single trade of 50,000 shares about 10:30 a.m. EDT. Among top shareholders excluding Williamson, only seven institutions hold 50,000 shares or more.
Williamson, who unsuccessfully sought Michigan's Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1998, and also ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Flint, Mich., in 1991 and 1995, operates Sports Resorts International from a used car dealership in Flint called Patsy Lou Williamson Mega Lot.
The car dealership is privately held and unrelated to Sports Resorts International.
One of the holding company's operating units make after-market truck liner beds; the other owns and operates a motor speedway in Minnesota and is constructing a similar facility in Michigan.
-John Seward, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400
Updated May 10, 2002 2:45 p.m. EDT |
