St Modwen's shares too cheap to miss

This week there has been a paucity in the total number of transactions by directors in their own companies. That's down to the fact that fewer companies produce their results at this time of the year, and it is after these releases that directors are best placed to buy or sell shares once the closed period is over. Another reason is many of those deals taking place this week are related to options. We take a look at two of those transactions - St. Modwen Properties where its directors have been buying, and Sepura where one of its directors has sold over a million shares - but don't worry, he still holds 10m.

St Modwen's directors buy on the up

Property developer St Modwen Properties delivered an impressive performance in 2011, pushing pre-tax profits ahead by 34 per cent to £50.4m, despite a pretty tough property market that has seen very little change in values. Much of the group's success has come from securing planning consent for houses on its brownfield land bank. This alone resulted in revaluation gains of £34m, and further significant realisations are expected in the year ahead. And, yet the shares are still trading on a 36 per cent discount to net asset value. This looks too cheap, hence our long-standing buy recommendation.

And directors of St Modwen have taken the advice to heart, with chief executive William Oliver buying 52,000 shares at 152.5p each and executive director Steve Burke purchasing 35,904 shares at 151.9p. Finance director Michael Dunn also bought 31,168 shares at 154p.

Jonas Crosland

Sepura's founding member hardly dents his holding

Non-executive director Sion Kearsey disposed of 1,240,214 ordinary shares in Sepura , the Cambridge-based tetra handset designer and manufacturer, for 50p a piece on 9 February 2012, netting him £620,107. Indeed, the sales transaction hardly dented the founding member's holding in the company, which remains high at 10m ordinary shares, representing 7.28 per cent of the group.

The sale was prompted by interest in the shares by various institutions, and Mr Kearsey was working to improve the liquidity to cater to these institutions. Indeed, the group's largest investor - Henderson Global Investors - subsequently increased its holding in the group from 27,183,869 ordinary shares to 28,462,900 ordinary shares, representing 20.73 per cent of the company on 2 February 2012. This in turn has propelled Sepura's share price by 4 per cent, and it's now trading at 55.8p. Hold.

Malar Velaigam

Director buys

Director sells

Table compiled by Robert Ansted.

Key to abbreviations: ch = chairman; ce = chief executive; cfo = chief financial officer; fd = finance director; coo = chief operating officer; cs =company secretary; md = managing director

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