Strong full-year results from Yule Catto earlier this month were warmly received by the City and numerous upgrades followed. “The most undervalued of the UK chemical companies, in our view,” wrote Morgan Stanley, as the share price rallied within sight of a new high.
That was enough for Alexander Catto, the non-executive director, to pocket £227,000 from the sale of 100,000 shares. Still, his remaining stake is currently worth £4.7m and, given the success of the PolymerLatex acquisition and increasing income from emerging markets, is likely to keep growing. Director Neil Johnson clearly thinks so. The Hornby and Umeco chairman has opened his account with the purchase of 50,000 shares at 251p.
Mr Johnson got in at an eight-month high, but a forward PE ratio of just 10 looks too cheap and a further re-rating of Yule Catto looks likely. At 240p, the shares are a buy.
Last IC view: Buy, 228p, 14 March 2012
Lee Wild
Whittaker's buying may galvanise board
Peel Group chairman John Whittaker has splashed out just over £2m on shares in Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), taking his stake to 20.15 per cent. The billionaire property mogul became a major shareholder in CSC last year – and also its deputy chairman – when the mall-owner bought the Trafford Centre in Manchester from Peel Group.
CSC's share price has bounced in line with the wider property sector this year and the shares now trade at 352p – 3 per cent above the level at which we recommended selling last September. Mr Whittaker has been a hugely successful property investor, so his purchases are meaningful. His presence on the board may also galvanise CSC’s underachieving management team.
We need greater evidence of his involvement before we turn bullish on CSC. The book value of its property portfolio remains inflated, and its shares trade at a tighter discount to that book value than those of comparable real-estate investment trusts. Mr Whittaker didn't stop CSC overpaying for a shopping centre in Nottingham last November.
Stephen Wilmot
Director buys
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3i Infrastructure | Charlotte Valeur | 16 Mar 12 | 3,500 | 122.29 | 4,280 |
| 4Imprint | JW Poulter | 16 Mar 12 | 10,000 | 280 | 28,000 |
| 4Imprint | Mrs G Davies | 19 Mar 12 | 2,300 | 280 | 6,440 |
| Absolute Return Trust | Nicholas Fry | 19 Mar 12 | 11,400 | 110.35 | 12,580 |
| Ark Therapeutics | Dr David Bloxham | 14 Mar 12 | 273,972 | 3.65 | 10,000 |
| Beale | Anthony Richards | 16 Mar 12 | 10,000 | 29 | 2,900 |
| BG | Caio Koch-Weser | 13 Mar 12 | 1,000 | E18.441 | E18,441 |
| BG | Caio Koch-Weser | 13 Mar 12 | 700 | E18.435 | E12,905 |
| Brammer | Jakob Alkil | 14 Mar 12 | 8,144 | 329.72 | 26,852 |
| Brammer | Steven Hodkinson | 15 Mar 12 | 8,852 | 328.1558 | 29,048 |
| Capital Shopping Centres | John Whittaker | 12 Mar 12 | 300,000 | 344.552 | 1,033,656 |
| Capital Shopping Centres | John Whittaker | 13 Mar 12 | 300,000 | 347.236 | 1,041,708 |
| Cello | Mark Scott (ceo) | 13 Mar 12 | 60,500 | 41 | 24,805 |
| CLS | Richard Tice (ceo) | 13 Mar 12 | 1,000 | 608.31 | 6,083 |
| e-Therapeutics | Prof Oliver James (ch) | 13 Mar 12 | 34,500 | 29 | 10,005 |
| FBD | Andrew Langford | 13 Mar 12 | 6,818 | E9.03 | E61,567 |
| Grainger | Nick Jopling | 15 Mar 12 | 25,000 | 113.3 | 28,325 |
| Henderson Asian Growth | C Keljik | 19 Mar 12 | 1,991 | 179.3375 | 3,571 |
| HgCapital Trust | Andrew Murison | 16 Mar 12 | 6,153 | 975 | 59,992 |
| Interserve | Paul Haywood | 16 Mar 12 | 3,600 | 292.82 | 10,542 |
| Interserve | Douglas Sutherland | 20 Mar 12 | 6,700 | 294.8 | 19,752 |
| Kofax | Mark Wells | 19 Mar 12 | 15,000 | 302 | 45,300 |
| Logica | David Tyler | 15 Mar 12 | 14,342 | 99.8 | 14,313 |
| Low & Bonar | John Sheldrick | 14 Mar 12 | 70,000 | 64 | 44,800 |
| Marks and Spencer | Miranda Curtis | 14 Mar 12 | 5,500 | 367.5 | 20,213 |
| Marston's | Lord Hodgson | 14 Mar 12 | 10,000 | 101.442 | 10,144 |
| Maven Income Growth | William Nixon | 15 Mar 12 | 3,900 | 66 | 2,574 |
| McKay Securities | Viscount Lifford | 15 Mar 12 | 10,000 | 132 | 13,200 |
| Mecom | Zillah Byng-Maddick | 15 Mar 12 | 6,170 | 170.25 | 10,504 |
| MirLand | Eliezer Fishman | 14 Mar 12 | 20,919 | 151 | 31,588 |
| Petra Diamonds | A Gordon Hamilton | 14 Mar 12 | 20,000 | 168.5 | 33,700 |
| Premier Foods | Ian Deste | 16 Mar 12 | 266,911 | 11.15 | 29,761 |
| SABMiller | GC Bible | 14 Mar 12 | 2,875 | 2653.3 | 76,282 |
| Statpro | Justin Wheatley (ceo) | 15 Mar 12 | 10,000 | 93 | 9,300 |
| Statpro | Justin Wheatley (ceo) | 16 Mar 12 | 16,800 | 97 | 16,296 |
| Triad | Steven Sanderson | 13 Mar 12 | 17,983 | 11 | 1,978 |
| Utilico Investments | Peter Irving Burrows | 13 Mar 12 | 25,000 | 182 | 45,500 |
| Yule Catto | NA Johnson | 19 Mar 12 | 50,000 | 251 | 125,500 |
Director sells
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARM | Tom Lantzsch | 12 Mar 12 | 50,000 | 575 | 287,500 |
| ARM | Tom Lantzsch | 13 Mar 12 | 50,000 | 573 | 286,500 |
| ARM | Lance Howarth | 13 Mar 12 | 1,663 | 575 | 9,562 |
| ARM | Lance Howarth | 14 Mar 12 | 48,337 | 574 | 277,396 |
| ARM | Simon Segars | 15 Mar 12 | 149,999 | 570.00 | 854,994 |
| ARM | Simon Segars | 15 Mar 12 | 49,999 | 569.89 | 284,939 |
| Avocet Mining | Harald Arnet | 16 Mar 12 | 23,693,988 | 200 | 47,387,976 |
| Brammer | Neil Rogers | 14 Mar 12 | 130,000 | 327.00 | 425,100 |
| Brunner Investment | WR Worsley | 14 Mar 12 | 7,200 | 420.00 | 30,240 |
| Carillion | Staffan Engstrom | 02 Mar 12 | 41,701 | 326.72 | 136,246 |
| Euromoney Institutional Investor | RP Daswani | 16 Mar 12 | 1,569 | 795.00 | 12,474 |
| F&C Asset Management | Alain Grisay (ceo) | 15 Mar 12 | 65,000 | 70.12 | 45,578 |
| Ladbrokes | Stephen Vowles | 12 Mar 12 | 1,479 | 156.47 | 2,314 |
| Oxus Gold | Richard Shead (ch) | 15 Mar 12 | 500,000 | 5.14 | 25,700 |
| PayPoint | Andrew Robb | 19 Mar 12 | 2,000 | 618.30 | 12,366 |
| Provident Financial | Michael Lenora | 14 Mar 12 | 31,177 | 1,151 | 358,847 |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering | Mark Vernon | 14 Mar 12 | 5,730 | 2,143.85 | 122,843 |
| Travis Perkins | G Cooper | 13 Mar 12 | 26,221 | 1,081 | 283,428 |
| Travis Perkins | P Hampden Smith | 15 Mar 12 | 16,000 | 1,090.00 | 174,400 |
| TT Electronics | Paul Felbeck | 16 Mar 12 | 8,250 | 190.00 | 15,675 |
| Tui Travel | Johan Lundgren (d ceo) | 16 Mar 12 | 124,777 | 193.54 | 241,493 |
| Yule Catto | Alexander Catto | 14 Mar 12 | 100,000 | 227 | 227,000 |
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
