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Wilmington's finance chief backs new regime

Wilmington's finance director has backed its new chief by buying a large tranche of shares
October 30, 2014

Investors in business-to-business information and training provider Wilmington (WIL) might be feeling uneasy following the recent departure of veteran chief executive Charles Brady. Finance director Anthony Foye may have settled some nerves by shelling out £140,000 for 65,000 shares in the group, raising his stake by 15 per cent.

Mr. Foye's purchase comes only a month after Wilminton posted strong results for the year ended June 30. Digital investments and international expansion helped it to grow its underlying pre-tax profits by 13 per cent. Moreover, regulatory crackdowns in the finance industry spurred a 14 per cent rise in underlying sales at its banking and compliance division. The main issues lay in Wilmington's legal and healthcare divisions, which have been hit, respectively, by more lenient training requirements for solicitors and depressed spending in the pharmaceutical industry.

Broker Westhouse Research forecasts full-year pre-tax profits of £18m, giving EPS of 15.4p, up from £15.8m and 13.7p.

Buys       
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
1pm * ♥Ron Russell22 Oct 14622,95061380,0007,500,25220.351
Action Hotels Stefan Allesch-Taylor17 Oct 14144,92869100,000144,9280.098
Advanced Oncotherapy Dr Enrico Vanni20 Oct 141,000,0004.0840,80012,450,0001.211
ASOS Nick Beighton (cfo & coo)21 Oct 1422,1502,249.62498,290149,9440.180
Augean Jim Meredith (ch)16 Oct 1425,00045.511,375225,0000.223
Augean Jim Meredith (ch)20 Oct 1425,0004611,500270,0000.268
Barr (A G) ♥JR Nicolson22 Oct 145,50058332,0655,5000.005
Burford Capital Jurat Lowe 21 Oct 1460,00012273,200160,0000.078
Chrysalis VCT Dr M Knight17 Oct 1445,0006127,450245,2320.820
Cineworld ♥ Moshe Greidinger (ce)17 Oct 142,150,000309.36,649,95076,626,34429.047
Cineworld ♥ Israel Greidinger17 Oct 142,150,000309.36,649,95076,626,34429.047
Development Securities Richard Upton22 Oct 1435,00018765,4502,732,5662.189
Development Securities Marcus Shepherd23 Oct 1410,00019719,70060,3900.048
Devro Paul Withers21 Oct 1420,000247.3249,46490,0000.054
Devro Peter Page (ce)21 Oct 1420,000247.71749,543662,4400.397
EnQuest Clare Spottiswoode 21 Oct 1419,56076.114,88519,5600.002
EnQuest Dr Philip Nolan17 Oct 14150,00078.1117,150150,0000.019
GameAccount Network Dermot Smurfit (ce)20 Oct 1428,00073.2520,5107,384,07513.265
Griffin Mining Adam Usdan17 Oct 14100,00037.537,50029,244,11316.334
Griffin Mining ♥Adam Usdan21 Oct 1450,0003919,50029,244,11316.362
Jupiter Fund Management P Johnson (cfo)17 Oct 1412,003332.339,8861,338,5460.292
Just Retirement  Michael Deakin22 Oct 1420,000127.6225,52420,0000.004
Keller  Paul Withers16 Oct 1410,000754.91875,49220,0000.028
Minds + Machines  Dr Frederick Krueger (ch)20 Oct 14150,0001015,000128,481,60415.473
NetPlay TV Andrew Lapping17 Oct 14250,0007.418,5003,393,6841.144
Northern Petroleum Jon Murphy (ch)22 Oct 14100,0001515,000425,2000.446
Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity MA Miller17 Oct 1430,000155.2546,5751,052,0541.047
Quindell Robert Fielding (ce)17 Oct 1417,707141.124,9851,136,0970.260
Robert Walters ♥L Van de Walle (ch)16 Oct 1410,000283.528,35025,0000.032
Shanta Gold LA Leslie20 Oct 14210,0009.519,9503,260,0000.702
Shanta Gold Anthony Durrant (ch)21 Oct 14200,0009.7519,5001,651,2120.356
Sinclair IS Pharma Jean-Charles Tschudin17 Oct 14500,00028.75143,7503,000,1170.603
Sopheon Dr Bernard Al20 Oct 144921,919.1810,7401140.783
Sopheon Stuart Silcock20 Oct 147418,587.1613,7552661.827
Sopheon Stuart Silcock17 Oct 148924,793.5122,066920.632
Sopheon Barry Mence (ch)21 Oct 146616,495.0510,8872,03313.965
Sopheon Barry Mence (ch)20 Oct 1423718,587.1644,0521,96713.511
Sopheon Barry Mence (ch)17 Oct 1428524,793.5170,6611,73011.884
TR European Growth Trust Jane Tufnell17 Oct 144,000453.71518,1495,2150.010
Wilmington  Anthony Foye (cfo)20 Oct 1465,000215139,750500,0000.575
Wolseley John Daly22 Oct 145503,17417,4572,0500.001
Xcite Energy Andrew Fairclough (cfo)20 Oct 1435,00043.115,08588,0000.028

Sells       
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Bioventix Peter Harrison (ce)22 Oct 1455,000655360,250786,17615.586
Bioventix Ian Nicholson (ch)22 Oct 144,00065526,20036,0000.714
Bioventix ♥Peter Harrison (ce)22 Oct 1425,000655163,750761,17615.090
Bioventix ♥Ian Nicholson (ch)22 Oct 144,00065526,20032,0000.634
Goodwin SR Goodwin16 Oct 141,8003,05054,900103,1801.433
Goodwin BRE Goodwin17 Oct 143,7793,070116,01544,4980.618
Goodwin MS Goodwin17 Oct 143,7793,070116,01580,3731.116
Goodwin SR Goodwin17 Oct 143,7793,070116,01599,4011.381
M P Evans  JD Shaw21 Oct 1411,00044248,620394,0650.713
* placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party † Depositary receipts