In spite of our recent buy advice (79p, 1 May 2014), which was backed by strong third-quarter trading, shares in Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) have lost some momentum of late. They’re not alone – plenty of the pub operators are suffering similar losses of investor sentiment. But that hasn't stopped non-executive director Tony Rice from spying an opportunity to add to his shareholding. Mr Rice picked up an additional 206,984 shares in a transaction worth more than £150,000.
IC TIP:
Buy
at
71p
Like-for-like sales from Spirit's managed estate rose 6 per cent during the 12 weeks to 24 May 2014, with food and drink sales up 4.8 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. This boosted figures for the first three quarters of the group's financial year (which ends in August): managed like-for-like sales were up 5 per cent, while the leased estate saw underlying turnover growth of 3 per cent.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| BP † | Alan Boeckmann | 29 Jul 14 | 14,400 | 487.96 | 70,266 | 14,400 | <0.001 |
| Byotrol * | NIcholas Martel (ch) | 30 Jul 14 | 2,000,000 | 3 | 60,000 | 3,000,000 | 1.333 |
| Byotrol * | David Traynor (ce) | 30 Jul 14 | 416,667 | 3 | 12,500 | 4,696,668 | 2.087 |
| Byotrol * | Dr Till Medinger | 30 Jul 14 | 416,667 | 3 | 12,500 | 1,010,521 | 0.449 |
| Centrica | Lesley Knox | 28 Jul 14 | 650 | 313.3 | 2,036 | 8,830 | <0.001 |
| Centrica | Ian Meakins | 28 Jul 14 | 451 | 313.3 | 1,413 | 9,188 | <0.001 |
| Centrica | Margherita Della Valle | 28 Jul 14 | 557 | 313.3 | 1,745 | 11,565 | <0.001 |
| Ceres Power Holdings * | Phil Caldwell (ce) | 30 Jul 14 | 117,646 | 8.5 | 10,000 | 117,646 | 0.015 |
| Ceres Power Holdings * | Robert Trezona | 30 Jul 14 | 117,646 | 8.5 | 10,000 | 124,544 | 0.016 |
| Ceres Power Holdings * | Dr MR Lloyd | 30 Jul 14 | 470,588 | 8.5 | 40,000 | 783,088 | 0.101 |
| Ceres Power Holdings * | S Callaghan | 30 Jul 14 | 882,352 | 8.5 | 75,000 | 3,605,650 | 0.467 |
| Croda International | Dr Helena Ganczakowski | 24 Jul 14 | 350 | 2,124.34 | 7,435 | 350 | <0.001 |
| Cyan Holdings | Harry Berry | 25 Jul 14 | 5,000,000 | 0.38 | 19,000 | 5,000,000 | 0.145 |
| Elektron Technology | Andy Weatherstone (cfo) | 25 Jul 14 | 50,000 | 5.2 | 2,600 | 50,000 | 0.027 |
| Informa ♥ | Geoffrey Cooper | 30 Jul 14 | 10,252 | 487.69 | 49,998 | 10,252 | 0.002 |
| Intelligent Energy Holdings | John Maguire (cfo) | 28 Jul 14 | 21,574 | 231.75 | 49,998 | 21,574 | 0.011 |
| Intelligent Energy Holdings | Dr Henri Winand (ce) | 29 Jul 14 | 37,472 | 232.17 | 86,999 | 370,903 | 0.197 |
| Jupiter Fund Management | P Johnson (cfo) | 30 Jul 14 | 3,793 | 395.56 | 15,004 | 1,322,617 | 0.289 |
| Jupiter Fund Management * | P Johnson (cfo) | 30 Jul 14 | 3,767 | 395.3 | 14,891 | 1,326,384 | 0.290 |
| Kirkland Lake Gold Inc | Dawn Whittaker | 29 Jul 14 | 1,000 | 226.79 | 2,268 | 3,040 | 0.004 |
| Mitchells & Butlers | Tim Jones (fd) | 25 Jul 14 | 3,000 | 377.9 | 11,337 | 24,578 | 0.006 |
| Numis Corp | Robert Sutton | 28 Jul 14 | 12,500 | 246.48 | 30,810 | 12,500 | 0.011 |
| Premier Farnell | Val Gooding (ch) | 25 Jul 14 | 3,050 | 187.55 | 5,720 | 19,903 | 0.005 |
| Premier Farnell | Mark Whiteling (cfo) | 24 Jul 14 | 50,000 | 187.9 | 93,950 | 204,314 | 0.055 |
| RapidCloud International * | David Cotterell (ch) | 28 Jul 14 | 18,518 | 54 | 10,000 | 146,295 | 0.792 |
| ReNeuron | Michael Hunt (ce) | 25 Jul 14 | 93,892 | 3.5 | 3,286 | 1,346,915 | 0.075 |
| ReNeuron | Dr John Sinden | 25 Jul 14 | 93,892 | 3.5 | 3,286 | 2,305,794 | 0.129 |
| Royal Mail | Paul Murray | 30 Jul 14 | 12,304 | 421.52 | 51,864 | 15,334 | 0.002 |
| Scholium | Jasper Allen (ch) | 25 Jul 14 | 2,000 | 80 | 1,600 | 102,000 | 0.750 |
| Securities Trust of Scotland | AG Lennox | 25 Jul 14 | 20,000 | 143.75 | 28,750 | 20,000 | 0.016 |
| Spirit Pub Co | Tony Rice | 24 Jul 14 | 206,984 | 73.68 | 152,506 | 810,000 | 0.123 |
| Summit Corp | Glyn Edwards (ce) | 29 Jul 14 | 30,000 | 104.5 | 31,350 | 233,333 | 0.568 |
| Ted Baker | David Bernstein | 30 Jul 14 | 6,000 | 1,722 | 103,320 | 6,000 | 0.014 |
| ULS Technology | John Williams (fd) | 28 Jul 14 | 48,291 | 41 | 19,799 | 48,291 | 0.075 |
| Vertu Motors | Michael Sherwin (fd) | 24 Jul 14 | 17,671 | 56.42 | 9,970 | 345,659 | 0.102 |
| Vertu Motors | Robert Forrester (ce) | 24 Jul 14 | 64,521 | 57.25 | 36,938 | 6,609,725 | 1.942 |
| Vertu Motors | Peter Jones | 25 Jul 14 | 300,000 | 57 | 171,000 | 300,000 | 0.090 |
| Vodafone † | Omid Kordestani | 28 Jul 14 | 10,000 | 202.21 | 20,221 | 10,000 | <0.001 |
| Witan Pacific Investment Trust | AS Robson | 29 Jul 14 | 5,000 | 230 | 11,500 | 5,000 | 0.008 |
| Wolseley ♥ | Darren Shapland | 25 Jul 14 | 2,000 | 3,180.0 | 63,600 | 2,000 | <0.001 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Bullabulling Gold | Peter Mansell (ch) | 25 Jul 14 | 1,625,000 | 4.43 | 72,066 | 0 | 0 |
| Bullabulling Gold | Ronnie Beevor | 25 Jul 14 | 709,552 | 4.43 | 31,467 | 0 | 0 |
| Clontarf Energy ** | Dr John Teeling (ch) | 28 Jul 14 | 16,000,000 | 0.75 | 120,000 | 38,192,755 | 9.977 |
| Jarvis Securities | Jolyon Head (fd) | 30 Jul 14 | 5,000 | 525 | 26,250 | 4,666 | 0.042 |
| National Grid † | Tony King | 28 Jul 14 | 17,500 | 897.38 | 157,042 | 1,407,600 | 0.038 |
| Signet Jewelers | Thomas Plaskett | 24 Jul 14 | 450 | 6,250.99 | 28,129 | 13,347 | 0.017 |
| Spectris ♥ | Clive Watson (fd) | 29 Jul 14 | 1,941 | 1,915.50 | 37,180 | 119,500 | 0.101 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party † depositary receipts ** Following the issue of Directors Loan Shares | |||||||
