Former Wilmington (WIL) chief Charles Brady has lent his full support to new chief executive Pedro Ros. He recently spent £2.7m on shares in the professional information and training specialist, expanding his stake to nearly 4.5m shares, or 5.2 per cent of the company.
During a 12-year stint at the helm, Mr Brady oversaw Wilmington's transformation from a UK-focused trade magazine and directory publisher to an international education and professional training provider. His purchase comes only weeks after finance director Anthony Foye bought £140,000-worth of shares and should further soothe investors that are wary of a change in leadership.
Despite currency movements, Wilmington has built on its strong full-year performance. Sales rose in its key banking, pensions and healthcare divisions in the three months to end-September and the group also slashed its net debt by 17 per cent to under £33m. However, more lenient training requirements for solicitors continued to drive declines at its legal division.
Broker Numis Securities forecasts full-year pre-tax profit of £18m, giving EPS of 15.9p (up from £16.6m and 14.8p).
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Acorn Income Fund | D J Warr | 26 Nov 14 | 33,000 | 298 | 98,340 | 33,000 | 0.2 |
| Bezant Resources | Mr. E F G Nealon (ch) | 26 Nov 14 | 500,000 | 4.16 | 20,800 | 500,000 | 0.6 |
| Big Yellow* | Mr. J E Gibson (ceo) | 21 Nov 14 | 9,132 | 547.5 | 49,998 | 2,538,358 | 1.6 |
| Big Yellow* | Mr. N J Vetch (ch) | 21 Nov 14 | 9,132 | 547.5 | 49,998 | 9,175,351 | 5.9 |
| Big Yellow* | Mr. A C J Lee (ops) | 21 Nov 14 | 5,479 | 547.5 | 29,998 | 781,802 | 0.5 |
| Big Yellow* | Mr. R J Cotton | 21 Nov 14 | 4,566 | 547.5 | 24,999 | 68,485 | 0.0 |
| Bioquell♥ | C H B Mills | 26 Nov 14 | 500,000 | 88.5 | 442,500 | 12,160,000 | 28.6 |
| COLT | S Giacoletto-Roggio | 20 Nov 14 | 20,000 | 135.5 | 27,100 | 50,000 | 0.0 |
| Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust | B Finlayson | 26 Nov 14 | 5,810 | 345.25 | 20,059 | 87,867 | 0.4 |
| EnQuest♥ | Dr J W Buckee (ch) | 20 Nov 14 | 470,596 | 64.28 | 302,499 | 3,182,779 | 0.4 |
| Enteq Upstream | R Pinchbeck | 20 Nov 14 | 148,701 | 24.95 | 37,101 | 526,812 | 0.9 |
| Exova | A G Langlands | 25 Nov 14 | 50,000 | 163.1 | 81,550 | 190,909 | 0.1 |
| Exova♥ | I El-Mokadem (ceo) | 20 Nov 14 | 38,569 | 162 | 62,482 | 2,000,000 | 0.8 |
| Fenner | N M Hobson (ceo) | 21 Nov 14 | 11,291 | 257 | 29,018 | 300,000 | 0.2 |
| Frontier Resources International | Mr. N L Herbert (ch) | 20 Nov 14 | 12,500,000 | 1 | 125,000 | 12,500,000 | 7.6 |
| GB | D Wilson (fd) | 24 Nov 14 | 24,000 | 145 | 34,800 | 365,035 | 0.3 |
| GETECH♥ | Mr. P F H Stephens | 26 Nov 14 | 100,000 | 44 | 44,000 | 988,000 | 3.3 |
| Independent Oil & Gas | Mr. M C Jordan | 20 Nov 14 | 181,818 | 11 | 20,000 | 6,957,560 | 10.0 |
| Independent Oil & Gas | Mr. M C Routh (inm ceo & ch) | 20 Nov 14 | 181,821 | 11 | 20,000 | 4,303,010 | 6.2 |
| Independent Oil & Gas | Mr. P C Murray | 20 Nov 14 | 181,818 | 11 | 20,000 | 951,420 | 1.4 |
| Independent Oil & Gas | Mr. P J Young (cfo) | 20 Nov 14 | 181,818 | 11 | 20,000 | 13,726,638 | 19.8 |
| Independent Oil & Gas | Ms. Marie-Louise Clayton | 20 Nov 14 | 181,818 | 11 | 20,000 | 2,732,591 | 3.9 |
| London Capital | Mr. C Sabet (ch) | 26 Nov 14 | 650,000 | 35 | 227,500 | 650,000 | 1.2 |
| LSL Property Services | W M F Shannon | 26 Nov 14 | 10,000 | 293 | 29,300 | 20,561 | 0.0 |
| Mitchells & Butlers♥ | A Darby (ceo) | 25 Nov 14 | 8,475 | 348.4606 | 29,532 | 94,128 | 0.0 |
| Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust | R A Hammond-Chambers | 25 Nov 14 | 5,000 | 455.375 | 22,769 | 22,500 | 0.1 |
| Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust | A R Irvine MBE (ch) | 21 Nov 14 | 5,000 | 452 | 22,600 | 65,000 | 0.4 |
| Norman Broadbent* | Mr. P A Casey (ch) | 21 Nov 14 | 469,144 | 19.1 | 89,607 | 3,682,242 | 21.1 |
| Ocean Wilsons | K W Middleton (gfd) | 20 Nov 14 | 10,000 | 1070 | 107,000 | 20,000 | 0.1 |
| Ocean Wilsons | K W Middleton (gfd) | 21 Nov 14 | 10,000 | 1069 | 106,900 | 30,000 | 0.1 |
| Pinnacle Technology* | Dr. J E Dodd (ch) | 21 Nov 14 | 1,569,230 | 6.5 | 102,000 | 3,081,538 | 6.7 |
| Pinnacle Technology* | Dr T J Black | 21 Nov 14 | 1,538,461 | 6.5 | 100,000 | 3,686,198 | 8.0 |
| R E A | M Parry | 21 Nov 14 | 5,000 | 400 | 20,000 | 19,322 | 0.1 |
| Rotala | S L Dunn (ceo) | 24 Nov 14 | 99,976 | 55 | 54,987 | 1,364,634 | 3.5 |
| Serco♥ | A G Cockburn (gcfo) | 21 Nov 14 | 84,600 | 173.7 | 146,950 | 84,600 | 0.0 |
| Surgical Innovations* | C J Rea OBE (intm md) | 24 Nov 14 | 30,354,893 | 1.3 | 394,614 | 69,814,083 | 14.4 |
| UKrproduct♥ | A K Slipchuck | 24 Nov 14 | 451,750 | 7.5 | 33,881 | 14,939,133 | 37.7 |
| UKrproduct♥ | S S Evlanchik (ceo) | 24 Nov 14 | 443,550 | 7.5 | 33,266 | 14,939,133 | 37.7 |
| Utilico Investments | Mr. E S C Stobart | 24 Nov 14 | 17,352 | 116.5 | 20,215 | 50,000 | 0.1 |
| Wilmington | Mr. C J Brady | 20 Nov 14 | 1,300,000 | 210 | 2,730,000 | 4,493,819 | 5.2 |
| Xchanging | D Bauernfeind (cfo) | 26 Nov 14 | 20,000 | 167.5 | 33,500 | 520,959 | 0.2 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Associated British Foods | Mr. J G Bason (fd) | 24 Nov 14 | 99,614 | 3067.1 | 3,055,261 | 122,724 | 0.0 |
| Associated British Foods | Mr. G G Weston (ceo) | 24 Nov 14 | 78,541 | 3067.1 | 2,408,931 | 3,548,947 | 0.4 |
| Close Brothers | J A G Howell (fd) | 21 Nov 14 | 9,691 | 1493.21 | 144,707 | 263,596 | 0.2 |
| Ebiquity | A W Beach (fd) | 21 Nov 14 | 189,476 | 105 | 198,950 | 20,000 | 0.0 |
| Fidessa | A Malpass (fd) | 21 Nov 14 | 1,350 | 2368.46 | 31,974 | 85,529 | 0.2 |
| Fidessa♥ | A Malpass (fd) | 21 Nov 14 | 2,100 | 2366 | 49,686 | 83,429 | 0.2 |
| Genel Energy | Dr A B Hayward (ceo) | 25 Nov 14 | 103,176 | 767 | 791,360 | 1,633,876 | 0.7 |
| Genel Energy | J Metherell (cfo) | 25 Nov 14 | 103,176 | 767 | 791,360 | 1,633,876 | 0.7 |
| Learning Technologies | D Solomon (coo) | 21 Nov 14 | 200,000 | 17.25 | 34,500 | - | 0.0 |
| Lombard Risk Management | J P McCormick | 26 Nov 14 | 4,000,000 | 13 | 520,000 | 5,076,756 | 1.9 |
| London Stock Exchange | R Jerusalmi | 25 Nov 14 | 15,000 | 2190 | 328,500 | 52,130 | 0.0 |
| Mucklow (A&J) | Mr. J D Parker (md) | 26 Nov 14 | 18,990 | 480.225 | 91,195 | 81,020 | 0.1 |
| Mucklow (A&J) | Mr. D Wooldridge (fd & cs) | 26 Nov 14 | 13,066 | 480.225 | 62,746 | 76,689 | 0.1 |
| Stanley Gibbons | I G Goldbart | 21 Nov 14 | 122,853 | 300 | 368,559 | 245,698 | 0.5 |
| Young & Co's Brewery♥ | T C F Sligo-Young | 21 Nov 14 | 12,000 | 1030 | 123,600 | 1,407,778 | 4.8 |
| *placing/tender/open offer ♥spouse/connected party †Approved SIP |
