Clive Cowdrey, who originally founded Resolution (RSL) to buy underperforming life operations -and who will step down as a non-executive of the group at next month's AGM - isn’t slow to spot a bargain. He blew nearly £3.3m on 28 March, snapping up 1.2m Resolution shares at 274p each, having watched them slide by around 100p just 11 days earlier.
There’s no big mystery to that derating. Sentiment towards most life assurers took a big punch on budget day, when George Osborne announced the abolition of compulsory annuity purchases. Life assurers’ shares then took another tumble after regulators at the FCA announced a probe into closed-life funds, which initially prompted fears of another mis-selling scandal.
None of this is as grim as it seems. Sure, Resolution has a large back-book for the FCA to look at. But the regulator's clarifications over the nature of the planned investigation suggest an agenda focused on fair treatment rather that past sales practices; analysts think the sector will have little to worry about in that respect. And although scrapping compulsory annuity purchases won’t help Resolution to offset its maturing back-book, neither is it likely that the annuity market is dead.
Buys | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
Aviva | Robert Stein | 31 Mar 14 | 10,000 | 479.4 | 47,942 | 17,000 | 0.001 |
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) | GJ Fry | 27 Mar 14 | 1,200 | 2,591 | 31,097 | 1,160,746 | 0.858 |
Capita | M Bolland (ch) | 01 Apr 14 | 8,000 | 1,103 | 88,240 | 63,000 | 0.010 |
Chesnara | Graham Kettleborough (ce) | 28 Mar 14 | 6,900 | 301.5 | 20,804 | 75,000 | 0.065 |
Frontier IP | Michael Bourne | 01 Apr 14 | 175,000 | 28 | 49,000 | 175,000 | 0.777 |
Frontier IP | James Fish (fd & cs) | 01 Apr 14 | 100,000 | 28 | 28,000 | 100,000 | 0.444 |
G4S | John Connolly (ch) | 02 Apr 14 | 100,000 | 246.0 | 246,022 | 200,000 | 0.013 |
Global Petroleum | Peter Hill | 28 Mar 14 | 530,000 | 6.46 | 34,238 | 710,000 | 0.356 |
IMI | Mark Selway (ce) | 31 Mar 14 | 8,528 | 1,465 | 124,935 | 8,536 | 0.003 |
Intu Properties ♥ | John Whittaker | 28 Mar 14 | 17,500 | 310.8 | 54,390 | 196,219,858 | 15.671 |
Intu Properties ♥ | John Whittaker | 28 Mar 14 | 200,000 | 309.9 | 619,750 | 196,202,358 | 15.670 |
Intu Properties ♥ | John Whittaker | 28 Mar 14 | 1,200,000 | 308.5 | 3,702,438 | 196,002,358 | 15.654 |
ITE | Marco Sodi (ch) | 28 Mar 14 | 25,000 | 193.7 | 48,425 | 100,000 | 0.040 |
Just Retirement | Rodney Cook (ce) | 31 Mar 14 | 50,000 | 141 | 70,500 | 2,707,374 | 0.541 |
Kennedy Ventures * | Peter Redmond | 28 Mar 14 | 1,320,000 | 1.25 | 16,500 | 1,320,000 | 1.857 |
Kennedy Ventures * | Colin Weinberg | 28 Mar 14 | 1,810,000 | 1.25 | 22,625 | 1,960,000 | 2.757 |
Kennedy Ventures * | JN Harrison | 28 Mar 14 | 4,800,000 | 1.25 | 60,000 | 12,400,000 | 17.441 |
Kennedy Ventures * | CG Clarke (ch) | 28 Mar 14 | 4,800,000 | 1.25 | 60,000 | 4,800,000 | 6.751 |
Kennedy Ventures * | Chris Yates | 28 Mar 14 | 1,720,000 | 1.25 | 21,500 | 1,810,500 | 2.546 |
Kofax | Chris Conway | 31 Mar 14 | 10,000 | 502 | 50,200 | 310,000 | 0.337 |
Ladbrokes | David Martin | 27 Mar 14 | 30,000 | 134.1 | 40,230 | 30,000 | 0.003 |
Northern Bear | Graham Jennings | 27 Mar 14 | 85,714 | 35 | 30,000 | 1,254,038 | 7.097 |
Optimal Payments | Joel Leonoff (ce) | 01 Apr 14 | 80,000 | 373.9 | 299,100 | 4,053,843 | 2.513 |
Pantheon Resources | Jay Cheatham (ce) | 31 Mar 14 | 125,000 | 19.91 | 24,888 | 2,804,249 | 2.747 |
Pantheon Resources | John Walmsley (ch) | 01 Apr 14 | 50,301 | 19.88 | 10,000 | 1,109,938 | 1.087 |
Pantheon Resources | Justin Hondris (fd) | 31 Mar 14 | 75,000 | 19.9 | 14,925 | 935,000 | 0.916 |
Parity ♥ | Paula Swinstead (ch) | 27 Mar 14 | 108,745 | 22.75 | 24,739 | 13,295,215 | 13.118 |
Polar Capital Holdings | MW Thomas | 28 Mar 14 | 4,000 | 490.9 | 19,635 | 4,000 | 0.005 |
Premier Foods | Gavin Darby (ce) | 31 Mar 14 | 38,014 | 66.75 | 25,374 | 1,029,051 | 0.125 |
Prime People | John Lewis | 27 Mar 14 | 109,000 | 84.0 | 91,593 | 1,008,550 | 8.383 |
Redhall * | Richard Shuttleworth (ce) | 27 Mar 14 | 217,948 | 39 | 85,000 | 267,948 | 0.546 |
Resolution | Clive Cowdery | 28 Mar 14 | 1,200,000 | 273.7 | 3,284,160 | 9,687,184 | 0.683 |
SOCO International | Rui de Sousa (ch) | 31 Mar 14 | 50,000 | 395 | 197,500 | 9,158,820 | 2.760 |
SOCO International | Rui de Sousa (ch) | 28 Mar 14 | 50,000 | 400 | 200,000 | 9,108,820 | 2.745 |
Toumaz | Antony Sethill (ce) | 01 Apr 14 | 1,500,000 | 3.23 | 48,375 | 4,000,000 | 0.244 |
Toumaz | Dr Richard Steeves (ch) | 02 Apr 14 | 1,000,000 | 3.88 | 38,800 | 19,750,000 | 1.203 |
Toumaz | Dr Richard Steeves (ch) | 02 Apr 14 | 12,500,000 | 3.05 | 381,250 | 18,750,000 | 1.142 |
UNITE* | MC Allan (ce) | 27 Mar 14 | 12,196 | 410 | 50,004 | 441,593 | 0.220 |
UNITE* | A Jones | 27 Mar 14 | 15,000 | 410 | 61,500 | 15,000 | 0.007 |
Vodafone | Vittorio Colao (ce) | 28 Mar 14 | 4,012,115 | 219.1 | 8,790,343 | 9,077,311 | 0.034 |
Vodafone | Nick Land | 27 Mar 14 | 13,000 | 219.5 | 28,529 | 32,090 | <0.001 |
Vodafone | Andy Halford | 28 Mar 14 | 977,673 | 219.1 | 2,142,033 | 2,304,953 | 0.009 |
Vodafone | Stephen Pusey | 28 Mar 14 | 730,623 | 219.1 | 1,600,758 | 1,579,550 | 0.006 |
Xaar | Ted Wiggans | 02 Apr 14 | 4,700 | 903.3 | 42,456 | 9,334 | 0.012 |
ZincOx Resources* | Andrew Woollett (ch) | 02 Apr 14 | 1,212,000 | 10 | 121,200 | 5,387,596 | 3.692 |
Sells | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
Countrywide | Grenville Turner (ce) | 02 Apr 14 | 682,000 | 641.0 | 4,371,552 | 1,951,323 | 0.889 |
Countrywide | Jim Clarke (cfo) | 02 Apr 14 | 491,300 | 641.0 | 3,149,184 | 1,088,758 | 0.496 |
Hargreaves Lansdown ♥ | M Evans (ch) | 27 Mar 14 | 7,500 | 1,468 | 110,100 | 8,125 | 0.002 |
Hill & Smith Holdings | Derek Muir (ce) | 01 Apr 14 | 11,621 | 543 | 63,102 | 146,605 | 0.188 |
Redcentric | Ian Smith | 01 Apr 14 | 600,000 | 110 | 660,000 | 9,649,108 | 6.705 |
Redcentric ♥ | Ian Smith | 01 Apr 14 | 3,900,000 | 110 | 4,290,000 | 5,874,108 | 4.082 |
Signet Jewelers | Michael Barnes (ce) | 27 Mar 14 | 33,996 | 6,288 | 2,137,558 | 240,982 | 0.300 |
TT electronics | Shatish Dasani (fd) | 31 Mar 14 | 150,000 | 213 | 319,500 | 529,144 | 0.334 |
TT electronics | Shatish Dasani (fd) | 27 Mar 14 | 150,000 | 215 | 322,500 | 679,144 | 0.428 |
Wood Group (John) ♥ | Allister Langlands (ch) | 31 Mar 14 | 5,000 | 774 | 38,700 | 426,214 | 0.114 |
Wood Group (John) ♥ | Allister Langlands (ch) | 31 Mar 14 | 5,000 | 774 | 38,700 | 431,214 | 0.115 |
* placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party