materials, slumped by $7 per share when it traded for the first time in 16 months on the Bermuda Stock Exchange on Friday, with a volume of 100.

SAL's controller Mr. Henry Kaye said someone must have been hard up for cash to let their shares go for such a low price.

"I don't have any shares but, if I did, I would not be selling them for $5,'' he said. "1992 was more or less a break-even year for the company and, although the 1993 results are still being compiled, they are not going to excite anyone.

"Four years ago we made $11 million and our profits go up and down with the cycles of the construction industry.'' He said SAL was in a "sound'' financial position and "had a lot of assets''.

There were three other trades on Friday, all at unchanged prices: 3,015 Bank of Bermuda shares went for $40; 1,900 Bank of Butterfield shares went for $24.50; and 1,448 Bermuda Commercial Bank shares went for $8.

An unusually large total of $3.958 million worth of shares and bonds were traded during the week ending Friday, May 14, thanks largely to a controversial $2.96 million in-house trade by the Bank of Bermuda in its own shares.

The Exchange Index closed the week at 944.71 -- down by 2.25 on the day and a new low for the year.