Pherous announced to the ASX this morning that he had sold 1.5 million shares in Corporate Travel Management for $31.5 million.

The sale had an immediate impact on CTM which dropped 6 per cent on the opening of the market this morning.

CTM said Pherous sold some of his shares because the company had not paid dividends since October 2019 as a result of the disruption to the business from COVID-19.

“The majority of his income is derived from dividends and he retains a large shareholding of 19.24m shares or 14.1 per cent of the company,” CTM said.

“This closely aligns his interests with CTM shareholders. He remains the largest shareholder in the company.”

Pherous sold the shares on March 16 when they reached $22.50, the best price since mid-2019, although the notification does not specify a price.

In 2019, Pherous earned $4.5 million from his CTM dividends.

Meanwhile, a CommSec report found that almost $26 billion would be paid out to shareholders after 86 per cent of ASX 200 companies that reported a half-year result declared a dividend during the February reporting season.

This was an increase from the $21.6 billion in the August 2020 reporting season, but down from $27.5 billion in the February 2020 reporting season, which later saw many companies shelving or cancelling their dividends in response to the coronavirus crisis.

“Of the companies to report a profit for the half-year to December, 60 per cent managed to lift earnings while 40 per cent recorded a fall in earnings,” CommSec said.