At an average price of $5.08, I'd suggest the majority of the extra 2.248m shares have come from on market buying into the lower price. It would certainly lower the average cost of the DRP over the past 4 years. Either way, $11m is a healthy sign of confidence. Whilst I am reflecting red on CDA, I believe we have a number of near term catalysts which will quickly reverse the direction of the SP.

16-Jan-2023 - just on that straw by @Solvetheriddle and the good explanation straw ("Who is the Uhrig Family") by @Rick - I do not know much at all about the family, however they have been accumlating further Codan shares over time, and as John Uhrig and Family are regarded as being substantial shareholders due to having a controlling interest in companies that themselves control more than 5% of Codan's shares on issue, they are required to lodge a "Notice of change of interest of substantial holder" every time their combined holdings moves by 1% or more, in either direction. If their combined position falls below the 5% "Substantial Holder" threshold, they will lodge a "ceasing..." notice.

This latest notice - Change-in-substantial-holding.PDF - shows that it has taken the family 4 years and 11 months (so basically five years) to move from 14.52% of Codan to 15.52% so I would suggest that much of that might simply be reinvested dividends (participation in their DRP) plus some on-market purchases. As Rick said, John Uhrig (pictured below a few years back) is now 94 (or is turning 94 this year), so I would imagine that John is probably happy to let their combined Codan shareholdings value accumulate and leave it to his family when he passes on.

John Allan Uhrig, Former Chairman of Codan (CDA). Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/1399492?leadSource=uverify wall

Source: https://codan.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Annual-Report-2006.pdf

A notice from 2007 (https://codan.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Announcement_Pinara-change-in-substantial-holding.pdf) shows that John and his family used a few different holding companies for their Codan shares, including Pinara Group Pty Ltd (formerly Pinara Pty Ltd), Starform Pty Ltd and Dareel Pty Ltd. The notice they lodged today show that they are still using Starform, Dareel, plus "Other Misc. (miscellaneous) Holdings". David Uhrig, who I assume is John's son, is the MD of the Uhrig Family Investment Group Entities now, and signs these notices in that capacity.

"David Uhrig and Kirsty Roberts are at the Seymour College Foundation’s Lowdown on Showdown 41 event, held at the Adelaide Oval."

[Source: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenger/cheers-to-adelaide-at-its-fabulous-best/image-gallery/01331f14b18065d1a25ee53c4b26eccf?page=3]

Further Reading: https://adelaideaz.com/articles/adelaide-s-uhrig-and-burns-families-behind-campion-education--australia-s-biggest-suppliers-of-school-books

https://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s727943.htm ("Business leader to look into regulators", The World Today - Friday, 15 November, 2002)

All in all, I would consider this as a vote of continued confidence by a long-standing shareholder who was one of the founders and a former Chairman of the Board of the company, along with his family. There is no evidence they have been selling shares, and they may well have been taking advantage of the recent share price drop to top up their position with some more Codan shares.

Disclosure: I hold Codan (CDA) shares in real life and also here on Strawman.com.

Outstanding #Straw @Rick

Agree it's a tough call with Codan, and although I don't know it as well as others here I do get the sense that there's no critical structural issues at play. Management may have taken their eye off the ball in Africa, but as you say the rest of the business is doing well and you can make a solid argument for value by ignoring Sudan altogether.

So a disappointing market update for FY23 during the AGM caused share price to slump 20%. It transpires that last year's record Minelab sales were due in part to COVID impact in Africa, where many took up gold prospecting as an alternative source of income. Sales into Africa this year are depressed, and not recovering as quickly as expected, due to stock overhang and geopolitical risks. Despite good growth from the communications business, this has lower margins than detection, and the overall profit forecast for FY23 has been reduced.

Does this change the long term growth prospects? - no

Do I think this is a well diversified business led by capable and honest management? - yes

Is the market for gold detection products likely to decline in the near future given the gold price? - no

Does Codan have the best detection products on the market, with new versions soon to be launched? - yes

As geopolitical risks increase is the market for secure communications likely to increase? - yes

Does Codan have market leading communications products? - yes

Is Codan profitable? - yes

Should I keep holding Codan? - yes