While a seasonal rise in director trades is to be expected at this time of year, the past few weeks has certainly thrown up some fairly hefty disposals. At this point last year we were reporting an 11 per cent rise in the number of indicative ‘buy’ signals, but over the course of the past month the ratio covering the average monetary value of sales to buys has stretched out to 10.5, which may give credence to the notion that last year’s rally has no residual impetus.
The same can’t be said for trading at Booker Group, the UK’s largest cash & carry operator, which recently reported a 21 per cent hike in annual pre-tax profits, together with a rising dividend and the elimination of its net debt. All this good news proved too much for some of the company’s directors who offloaded a total of 30m shares with a combined worth of £12.3m. The company’s share price promptly fell by just over a penny, or 2.67 per cent, which in turn wiped £1.56m off the value of the directors’ remaining holdings.
John Rennocks, chairman and acting chief executive of Nestor Healthcare, added 90,000 shares to his personal holding at 53p a share, following on from recent news that the company expects to beat consensus earnings forecasts for the current year after continued strong performance within its primary care business.
Close Brothers also delivered an upbeat trading analysis, leaving the company confident of delivering a good overall result for the 2010 financial year. Funds under management increased after a solid third-quarter performance, although Close’s banking division remains vulnerable in terms of its bad-debt ratio. The company’s chief executive Preben Prebenson and its financial director Jonathan Howell collectively spent £237,479 following the announcement.
Director buys
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price p | Value £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alphameric | P Bertram | 28 May 10 | 35,713 | 28 | 10,000 |
| Anglo American | P Woicke | 26 May 10 | 5,000 | 2,580 | 129,000 |
| Antrim Energy Inc | S Greer (ce) | 21 May 10 | 30,000 | 60.15 | 18,046 |
| Antrim Energy Inc | Dr B Moss | 26 May 10 | 3,000 | 59.29 | 1,779 |
| Antrim Energy Inc | Dr B Moss | 26 May 10 | 4,500 | 59.95 | 2,698 |
| Antrim Energy Inc | JM Zammit | 21 May 10 | 10,000 | 56.87 | 5,687 |
| Antrim Energy Inc | Dr B Moss | 26 May 10 | 10,000 | 60.60 | 6,060 |
| Antrim Energy Inc | Dr B Moss | 26 May 10 | 15,000 | 58.64 | 8,796 |
| Antrim Energy Inc | Dr B Moss | 26 May 10 | 24,500 | 61.25 | 15,006 |
| Blacks Leisure * | ND Gillis (ce) | 24 May 10 | 58,100 | 54 | 31,374 |
| Blacks Leisure * | DA Bernstein (ch) | 24 May 10 | 100,000 | 54 | 54,000 |
| Bramdean Alternatives Ltd | JD Carr (ch) | 21 May 10 | 5,000 | 58.04 | 2,902 |
| British Airways† | J Lawrence | 26 May 10 | 4,000 | 1,909.59 | 76,384 |
| Capital & Counties Propertie | I Hawksworth | 27 May 10 | 50,000 | 105.36 | 52,680 |
| Capital & Counties Properties | S Das (fd) | 26 May 10 | 40,000 | 104.20 | 41,682 |
| Capital & Counties Properties | AJM Huntley | 20 May 10 | 18,000 | 111.85 | 20,133 |
| Capital & Regional | P Newton | 20 May 10 | 150,000 | 33 | 49,500 |
| Capital Shopping Centres | AJM Huntley | 20 May 10 | 6,000 | 313.38 | 18,803 |
| Close Brothers | P Prebensen (ce) | 24 May 10 | 10,000 | 687.5 | 68,750 |
| Close Brothers | JAG Howell (fd) | 24 May 10 | 24,303 | 694.27 | 168,729 |
| CLS Holdings | THO Lundqvist | 21 May 10 | 5,000 | 469 | 23,450 |
| Dairy Crest | M Allen (ce) | 26 May 10 | 10,000 | 367.48 | 36,748 |
| Dairy Crest | AM Fry (ch) | 26 May 10 | 3,000 | 367.48 | 11,024 |
| FFastFill | HJ Purdey (ce) | 26 May 10 | 100,000 | 7.5 | 7,500 |
| Grainger | R Broadhurst | 27 May 10 | 12,000 | 112 | 13,440 |
| Grainger | M Greenwood | 27 May 10 | 10,000 | 115 | 11,500 |
| Grainger | AR Cunningham (ce & fd) | 24 May 10 | 20,000 | 109.5 | 21,900 |
| Henderson EuroTrust | RAT Bischof | 26 May 10 | 1,000 | 446 | 4,460 |
| Henderson EuroTrust | TP Stevenson | 26 May 10 | 2,500 | 445.75 | 11,144 |
| ICAP | WJN Nabarro | 26 May 10 | 9,900 | 370.245 | 36,654 |
| Independent News & Media | L Buckley | 20 May 10 | 1,000,000 | 12 | 120,000 |
| Innovation | C Banks | 27 May 10 | 64,000 | 11 | 7,040 |
| Kenmare Resources | AC Lowrie | 25 May 10 | 1,000,000 | 9 | 90,000 |
| Lloyds Banking † | GR Moreno | 24 May 10 | 100,000 | 55.94 | 55,936 |
| London Mining | D Hossie (ce) | 25 May 10 | 58,674 | 200 | 117,348 |
| Luminar Group Holdings | ST Douglas | 27 May 10 | 30,000 | 14.88 | 4,464 |
| Lupus Capital | Louis Eperjesi (ce) | 28 May 10 | 55,000 | 92 | 50,600 |
| Lupus Capital | L Tench | 28 May 10 | 5,000 | 91.47 | 4,574 |
| Marston's | D Thompson (ch) | 24 May 10 | 6,000 | 94.47 | 5,668 |
| Mecom | DJ Montgomery (ce) | 25 May 10 | 10,000 | 175 | 17,500 |
| Midas Capital | M Gray | 28 May 10 | 257,487 | 16 | 41,198 |
| Midas Capital | C Rutherford | 28 May 10 | 250,000 | 16 | 40,000 |
| Midas Capital | C Rutherford | 28 May 10 | 100,000 | 17 | 17,000 |
| Mirland Development Corp. | S Holm | 27 May 10 | 5,000 | 915.067 | 45,753 |
| Mirland Development Corp. | S Holm | 28 May 10 | 3,000 | 954.372 | 28,631 |
| Mothercare | R Rivers | 24 May 10 | 3,000 | 518 | 15,540 |
| Nestor Healthcare | Sir Andrew Foster | 25 May 10 | 20,000 | 52 | 10,400 |
| Nestor Healthcare | JL Rennocks (ch & ce) | 26 May 10 | 90,000 | 53 | 47,700 |
| Next | CE Angelides | 24 May 10 | 13,845 | 2,058 | 284,930 |
| Paypoint | S Rowley | 27 May 10 | 9,056 | 273 | 24,723 |
| Paypoint | N Wiles | 27 May 10 | 10,000 | 263 | 26,300 |
| QinetiQ | Colin Balmer | 27 May 10 | 7,662 | 130.5 | 9,999 |
| QinetiQ | Sir James Burnell-Nugent | 27 May 10 | 11,419 | 131.36 | 15,000 |
| QinetiQ | Noreen Doyle | 27 May 10 | 7,662 | 130.50 | 9,999 |
| QinetiQ | Mark Elliott | 27 May 10 | 25,000 | 132.92 | 33,230 |
| QinetiQ | Ad Edmund P Giambastiani | 27 May 10 | 5,232 | 130.50 | 6,828 |
| QinetiQ | David Langstaff | 27 May 10 | 40,000 | 131.97 | 52,788 |
| QinetiQ | Sir David Lees | 27 May 10 | 17,000 | 131.96 | 22,433 |
| Rathbone Brothers | PDG Chavasse (coo) | 26 May 10 | 178 | 850 | 1,513 |
| Rotala | S Dunn | 27 May 10 | 30,000 | 41 | 12,300 |
| Rotala | K Taylor | 27 May 10 | 25,000 | 41 | 10,250 |
| Roxi Petroleum | DL Wilkes (ce) | 25 May 10 | 91,500 | 7.84 | 7,174 |
| Shanks | J Drury | 27 May 10 | 10,000 | 94.75 | 9,475 |
| Sinclair Pharma | C Foucher (coo) | 28 May 10 | 65,000 | 26.01 | 16,909 |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering | ME Vernon | 28 May 10 | 5,200 | 1,442.54 | 75,012 |
| Standard Life | GE Grimstone | 27 May 10 | 50,000 | 175 | 87,500 |
| Standard Life | CM Nish | 27 May 10 | 25,000 | 179.32 | 44,830 |
| Strategic Thought | L Barker (ch) | 26 May 10 | 156,250 | 32 | 50,000 |
| Strategic Thought | AN Gordon | 26 May 10 | 78,125 | 32 | 25,000 |
| Telecity | M Tobin (ce) | 21 May 10 | 484 | 369 | 1,786 |
| Thomas Cook | BA Lerenius | 25 May 10 | 10,000 | 195.4 | 19,540 |
| UK Mail | T Jenkins | 25 May 10 | 2,986 | 337 | 10,063 |
| Wolfson Microelectronics | M J Hickey (ce) | 21 May 10 | 12,500 | 169 | 21,125 |
| Yell | T Coppel | 24 May 10 | 20,649 | 35.41 | 7,312 |
| ZincOx Resources | J Saville | 28 May 10 | 10,000 | 40.45 | 4,045 |
| *Placing and/or Open Offer †American Depositary Shares | |||||
Director Sales
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price p | Value £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian Citrus Holdings Ltd | CW Sun | 25 May 10 | 60,000 | 49.67 | 29,802 |
| Aurelian Oil & Gas | MS Donnelly | 25 May 10 | 500,000 | 40 | 200,000 |
| Booker | C Wilson (ce) | 28 May 10 | 15,000,000 | 41 | 6,150,000 |
| Booker | J Prentis (fd) | 28 May 10 | 5,000,000 | 41 | 2,050,000 |
| Booker | B Drew | 28 May 10 | 5,000,000 | 41 | 2,050,000 |
| Booker | B Satherley | 28 May 10 | 5,000,000 | 41 | 2,050,000 |
| Booker | M Chilton (cs) | 28 May 10 | 800,000 | 41 | 328,000 |
| Bovis Homes | K Carnegie | 28 May 10 | 8,990 | 389.2 | 34,989 |
| Britvic | P Moody (ce) | 24 May 10 | 49,969 | 4.59 | 2,294 |
| Diploma | I Henderson | 27 May 10 | 150,000 | 223 | 334,500 |
| Experian | F Arredondo | 26 May 10 | 9,315 | 594 | 55,331 |
| Group NBT | K Young | 24 May 10 | 100,000 | 275 | 275,000 |
| Investec | PRS Thomas | 24 May 10 | 50,045 | 471 | 235,712 |
| Lonmin | IP Farmer (ce) | 25 May 10 | 15,000 | 1,556.55 | 233,483 |
| New World Resources NV | P Everard | 27 May 10 | 20,000 | 714.92 | 142,984 |
| New World Resources NV | P Everard | 26 May 10 | 18,000 | 714.92 | 128,686 |
| Serco | Baroness Ford of Cunnighame | 26 May 10 | 5,075 | 596.11 | 30,253 |
Source: Morningstar UK. ch = chairman; ce = chief executive; cfo = chief financial officer; fd = finance director; coo = chief operating officer; cs =company secretary; md = managing director
