There was little in Fenner's (FENR) first-quarter musings to get the pulse racing. A quieter first half at the industrial conveyor belt specialist has already been pencilled in and few expect much action until later in the year. So, given the shares have re-rated sharply since the autumn and market sentiment has just begun to sour, the decision by one senior employee to cash in his chips looks a sensible move.
David Jones, a scientist who's run Fenner's Advanced Sealing Technologies business for eight years, has banked more than £300,000 from the sale of his last 80,000 shares. Sitting within Fenner's higher-margin Advanced Engineered Products (AEP) division, the unit known as FAST makes high-performance seals for oil and gas and mining equipment, and precision machined plastics for aerospace, defence and medical components. Customer de-stocking has hindered parts of AEP, but that should wind down during the second half, according to Fenner.
Fenner’s long-term prospects looks sound enough, and both coal and iron ore prices have improved recently. That should cheer up the Australian mining industry, but a mild winter in the US is unhelpful so, with the shares already trading on 11.5 times forward earnings, we stick with our hold advice.
Lee Wild
No mystery why Mistry and Allan bought Dixons’ shares
Dixons Retail (DXNS) had a fantastic 2012, with its share price up 189 per cent, capitalising on the demise of Comet in the UK and Expert in Sweden. Furthermore, it just posted sparkling Christmas trading figures, which were boosted by consumer demand for electricals. With so much positive news buzzing around the company, independent non-executive director Dharmash Mistry along with John Allan boosted their holdings and bought 193,756 shares between them.
It's perhaps no coincidence that the purchases were made on the same day Dixons released its Christmas trading figures. Group like-for-like underlying sales grew 3 per cent, with particularly strong results in the UK and Ireland (up 8 per cent) and Northern Europe (up 11 per cent). Full-year underlying pre-tax profits are expected to be in line with market expectations and Dixons will inevitably pick up a fair chunk of Comet’s £1.2bn-worth of sales. However, the group’s struggling PIXmania business reported a 25 per cent decline in like-for-like sales, while its southern European business is also flagging. Tough times lie ahead as PIXmania is restructured and Dixons fights to fend off online competition. The shares remain a hold.
Julia Bradshaw
Taylor buys ahead of trading update
Kevin Taylor, non-executive director at Hyder Consulting (HYC), has been busy buying ahead of the trading update expected on 29 January, picking up 7,490 shares at 445p a share. Investors will be getting much more detail on the Australian operations with a full seminar following the update. In the previous full-year results, Hyder generated 83 per cent of its profits from overseas, with 57 per cent coming from Australia and 16 per cent from the Middle East. Australia has been performing well, with profits and revenues rising strongly, but the economy there has cooled significantly as China slows.
Hyder is the least exposed of the consultant engineers to the struggling UK economy, but it will be interesting to see if increased rail and highways spend was still making up for slower water utility work. The balance sheet was in a strong position in the September update, with £15m of net cash, and if sterling weakens further North American suitors may find that overseas exposure difficult to resist. But the shares have had a good run and, at 460p, they are 16 per cent up on our tip (buy, 396p, 16 June 2011), so we downgrade to a hold until we get more clarity on Australia.
John Ficenec
Buys
Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Total shares held | Value (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Advanced Power Components | Mark Robinson | 21 Jan 13 | 300,000 | 13.25 | 39,750 | 880,020 | 2.9 |
Advanced Power Components | Rob Smith | 21 Jan 13 | 40,000 | 13.25 | 5,300 | 90,000 | 0.3 |
Advanced Power Components | John Ian Davidson | 21 Jan 13 | 40,000 | 13.25 | 5,300 | 40,000 | 0.13 |
Cable & Wireless Commns | Tony Rice | 17 Jan 13 | 3,000,000 | 37.75 | 1,132,500 | - | - |
Cluff Natural Resources | Brian FitzGerald | 15 Jan 13 | 200,000 | 5.6 | 11,200 | 600,000 | 0.69 |
Daniel Stewart Securities | Peter Shea (ceo) | 15 Jan 13 | 3,456,680 | 0.55 | 19,012 | 55,942,411 | 10.76 |
Darty | Michel Léonard | 21 Jan 13 | 15,000 | 64.68 | 9,702 | 30,000 | 0.006 |
Dixons Retail | Dharmash Mistry | 17 Jan 13 | 93,756 | 26.66 | 24,995 | 267,382 | - |
Dixons Retail | John Allan | 17 Jan 13 | 100,000 | 26.6 | 26,600 | 1,121,428 | - |
Establishment Investment Trust | Gregory Shenkman | 15 Jan 13 | 3,415 | 206 | 7,035 | 3,415 | 0.02 |
Fidelity Europe | Marion Sears | 18 Jan 13 | 1,200 | 1336 | 16,032 | 1,200 | - |
Fortune Oil | Xiang Dong Yang | 18 Jan 13 | 180,000 | 11.83 | 21,294 | 1,000,000 | 0.05 |
Hilton Foods | Robert Watson | 15 Jan 13 | 50,000 | 302.54695 | 151,273 | 3,316,380 | 4.68 |
Hyder Consulting | Kevin Taylor | 18 Jan 13 | 7,490 | 445 | 33,331 | 7,490 | 0.019 |
Kingfisher | Clare Chapman | 17 Jan 13 | 6,990 | 285.6 | 19,963 | - | - |
Mediterranean Oil & Gas | Peter Jackson | 16 Jan 13 | 240,000 | 12.25 | 29,400 | 240,000 | 0.06 |
Premier Energy | James Smith | 16 Jan 13 | 4,500 | 112 | 5,040 | 11,250 | 0.06 |
Renold | Robert Purcell | 17 Jan 13 | 250,000 | 26 | 65,000 | 875,000 | 0.4 |
SpaceandPeople | Matthew Bending (ceo) | 21 Jan 13 | 28,500 | 72 | 20,520 | 2,093,000 | 10.8 |
Symphony Environmental Technologies | Michael Laurier (ceo) | 16 Jan 13 | 6,691,717 | 3 | 200,752 | 21,992,317 | 17.2 |
Symphony Environmental Technologies | Michael Stephen (d ch) | 16 Jan 13 | 167,000 | 3 | 5,010 | 782,998 | 0.61 |
Thomas Cook | Dawn Airey | 17 Jan 13 | 20,000 | 54.9 | 10,980 | 30,000 | 0.0033 |
United Utilities | Sara Weller | 22 Jan 13 | 5,000 | 719.8 | 35,990 | 10,000 | 0.00154 |
Sells
Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Total shares held | Value (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Atkins, WS | Sara Lipscombe-Notta | 18 Jan 13 | 1,000 | 771.98 | 7,720 | 5,666 | 0.006 |
Burberry | Pascal Perrier | 22 Jan 13 | 30,000 | 1,366.80 | 410,040 | - | - |
Entertainment One | Robert Lantos | 14 Jan 13 | 1,000 | 175 | 1,750 | 1,582,528 | 0.6 |
Fenner | David Jones | 18 Jan 13 | 80,193 | 395.40 | 317,083 | none | - |
Northacre | Klas Nilsson (ch) | 17 Jan 13 | 5,000,000 | 96 | 4,800,000 | none | - |
Northacre | Mohamed AlRafi | 16 Jan 13 | 7,850,000 | 96 | 7,536,000 | none | - |
Wetherspoon, JD | John Hutson (ceo) | 21 Jan 13 | 6,000 | 502.00 | 30,120 | 37,103 | - |
Young & Co's Brewery | Torquil Sligo-Young | 21 Jan 13 | 2,000 | 585 | 11,700 | - | - |
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