Much ado at the board of National Express this week where Spaniard, Jorge Cosmen, has been building a strategic stake in a bid to get the company to reconsider a proposed £360m rights issue. It’s by no means clear how this matter will pan out, but it illustrates the point that if companies continue to de-gear by simply issuing scrip, it’s inevitable that a growing number of directors will be forced to either stump-up, or see their holdings diluted. For many directors this is largely incidental, but there are others who would be unwilling to jeopardise the increased leverage their holdings afford them.
And speaking of dilutions, there's been further action within the banking sector this week, where Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of RBS, followed the lead of his counterpart at Lloyds, by buying 250,000 shares at 36.85p. Given his reputation as something of a corporate redeemer - he's overseen big rights issues at BT and helped get Sainsbury's out of trouble - it's unsurprising that Sir Philip has backed his own ability to restore the fortunes of RBS.
Kate Bleasdale, the founder and vice-chairman of Healthcare Locums, has pushed up her holding to 9.61 per cent following the purchase of 50,000 shares at 252p. The acquisition came in the same week the company announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the South Korean government’s human resources development service to provide exclusive training and development for the country’s healthcare staff for international placements. As Seoul provider in this area, Healthcare Locums is building on an established relationship with the South Korean Government, and underlines the importance of the company’s international division to its future growth. Healthcare Locums has proved to be a robust defensive play over the past year, but it has also outperformed the FTSE All-Share by 11.5 per cent over the past quarter.
In a transaction worth £644,794, Richard Ashton, finance director of Home Retail Group, has just sold 30 per cent of his stake in the company. It’s a tidy sum to pocket in the weeks leading up to Xmas, and will ensure that Mr Ashton will be able to thumb through his Homebase and Argus catalogues with a degree of confidence. In fact, this confidence is shared by analysts at broker Nomura Securities, who have identified Home Retail as one of the retail stocks most likely to turn in a solid performance over the festive season.
Director Buys
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3i | OHJ Stocken | 12 Nov 09 | 1,200 | 268.4 | 3,221 |
| 3i | AR Cox | 12 Nov 09 | 800 | 268.4 | 2,147 |
| 3i | C Morin-Postel | 12 Nov 09 | 1,600 | 268.4 | 4,294 |
| 3i | JM Allan | 12 Nov 09 | 933 | 268.4 | 2,504 |
| 3i | RH Meddings | 12 Nov 09 | 1,600 | 268.4 | 4,294 |
| 3i | RWA Swannell | 12 Nov 09 | 1,600 | 268.4 | 4,294 |
| 3i | W Mesdag | 12 Nov 09 | 1,600 | 268.4 | 4,294 |
| Antisoma | Dr BJ Price (ch) | 18 Nov 09 | 50,000 | 30.5 | 15,250 |
| Arsenal Holdings | S Kroenke | 19 Nov 09 | 10 | 850,000 | 85,000 |
| Byotrol | Iain Duncan Smith | 19 Nov 09 | 65,000 | 31 | 20,150 |
| Byotrol | Dr Till Medinger | 19 Nov 09 | 65,000 | 31 | 20,150 |
| Cayenne Trust | Sir Laurence Magnus | 17 Nov 09 | 50,000 | 111 | 55,500 |
| Clarkson | J Morley | 19 Nov 09 | 1,250 | 800 | 10,000 |
| Croma* | SJF Morley (ce) | 16 Nov 09 | 2,500,000 | 2 | 50,000 |
| Croma* | AN Hewson (ch) | 16 Nov 09 | 2,500,000 | 2 | 50,000 |
| Croma* | GM McGill (fd & cs) | 16 Nov 09 | 500,000 | 2 | 10,000 |
| Croma* | JW Sullivan | 16 Nov 09 | 1,000,000 | 2 | 20,000 |
| Debenhams | ST Laing | 18 Nov 09 | 20,000 | 87.5 | 17,500 |
| FBD Holdings | A Langford | 19 Nov 09 | 3,000 | 614.77 | 18,443 |
| Globus Maritime | G Karageorgiou (ce) | 17 Nov 09 | 71,000 | 62.67 | 44,496 |
| Greggs | R Hutton | 23 Nov 09 | 1,645 | 424.75 | 6,987 |
| Healthcare Locums | K Bleasdale | 20 Nov 09 | 50,000 | 252 | 126,000 |
| JPMorgan US Discovery | A Kemp | 12 Nov 09 | 1,500 | 625 | 9,375 |
| Kofax | C Padgett | 20 Nov 09 | 5,000 | 184 | 9,200 |
| Mecom | D Montgomery | 19 Nov 09 | 20,000 | 145 | 29,000 |
| National Express | J Cosmen | 23 Nov 09 | 400,000 | 358.85 | 1,435,410 |
| National Express | J Cosmen | 20 Nov 09 | 750,000 | 359.6 | 2,697,000 |
| National Express | J Cosmen | 19 Nov 09 | 501,823 | 341 | 1,711,216 |
| National Express | J F Devaney (ch) | 17 Nov 09 | 10,000 | 340 | 34,000 |
| Pacific Horizon Inv Tst | Jean Matterson | 13 Nov 09 | 27,878 | 139 | 38,750 |
| Paddy Power | SR Kenny | 12 Nov 09 | 6,990 | 2,300 | 160,770 |
| Plethora Solutions* | W Robinson | 18 Nov 09 | 1,000,000 | 10 | 100,000 |
| Plethora Solutions* | Dr Steven Powell | 18 Nov 09 | 500,000 | 10 | 50,000 |
| Plethora Solutions* | Dr Mike Wyllie | 18 Jan 09 | 200,000 | 10 | 20,000 |
| Plethora Solutions* | R Openshaw | 18 Nov 09 | 250,000 | 10 | 25,000 |
| Resolution | GBK Roggemann | 12 Nov 09 | 30,000 | 96.21 | 28,863 |
| RIT Capital Partners | M Breuer-Weil | 23 Nov 09 | 10,000 | 960 | 96,000 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | J McFarlane | 18 Nov 09 | 50,000 | 37.78 | 18,888 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | Sir Philip Hampton (ch) | 18 Nov 09 | 250,000 | 36.85 | 92,125 |
| Rugby Estates | JA Jackson | 18 Nov 09 | 50,000 | 263 | 131,500 |
| St Modwen Properties | L James | 20 Nov 09 | 10,000 | 222.3 | 22,230 |
| UK Mail | M Findlay | 19 Nov 09 | 1,500 | 333.1 | 4,997 |
| Vedanta Resources † | AK Agarwal (ch) † | 18 Jan 09 | 250,000 | 2,451.05 | 6,127,625 |
| XP Power | LB Tracey (ch) | 17 Nov 09 | 10,000 | 370 | 37,000 |
| XP Power | M Lynch (fd) | 16 Nov 09 | 2,500 | 362 | 9,050 |
| * Resulting from placing † Purchased by Volcan Inv's, which is controlled by persons related to A Agarwal | |||||
Director Sales
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of London Inv. Group | D Cardale | 20 Nov 09 | 50,000 | 295 | 147,500 |
| Fiske | JPQ Harrison | 17 Nov 09 | 8,000 | 75 | 6,000 |
| Frenkel Topping* | R Fraser (md) | 23 Nov 09 | 1,666,667 | 3 | 50,000 |
| Guinness Peat † | BA Nixon | 18 Nov 09 | 325,916 | 35.55 | 115,866 |
| Guinness Peat † | BA Nixon | 18 Nov 09 | 174,084 | 35.99 | 62,650 |
| Home Retail | R Ashton (fd) | 17 Nov 09 | 200,833 | 321.06 | 644,794 |
| Pennon | Dr S C Bird | 23 Nov 09 | 1,091 | 483.81 | 5,278 |
| Petmin Ltd | ALK Lebo Mogotsi | 18 Nov 09 | 500,000 | 14.45 | 72,226 |
| Vedanta Resources | A Joshi | 13 Nov 09 | 1,500 | 2,320.7 | 34,811 |
| * Sold to fellow director David Southworth † Sold on the NZ Stock Market | |||||
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
