As Red & White Holdings get closer to 30% of Arsenal shares, here’s a summary of shares traded on Plus Markets for the last 18 months, including the current month to date. This shouldn’t be taken as an indication of the total number of shares traded, as many purchases are done off-market, including the huge blocks sold by other Directors to Stan Kroenke last year. But it does show that shares are getting harder to come by for R&W, with the number traded on market noticeably down over recent months. The number of small shareholders is down by about 15% (approx 750 to 640) in the last year, and I think it’s fair to say that most of those who want to sell have now sold. This doesn’t mean I don’t think R&W will get to 30%, but it’s a hard road for them.

.                  Shares  No. of
.                   traded  trades
Jan 2011        37        15
Feb 2011       20         14
Mar 2011       72         26
Apr 2011        51         24
May 2011     507        70
Jun 2011      654        34
Jul 2011       108        13
Aug 2011       31          6
Sep 2011       67        13
Oct 2011        78         6
Nov 2011       26         8
Dec 2011       51         6
Jan 2012       44        11
Feb 2012       55       14
Mar 2012         6         3
Apr 2012        15         6
May 2012        6          4
Jun 2012         3          3

See here for how the maximum price paid has increased during the same period.