Investors in MX Oil (MXO) may well have been slightly bemused when the Aim-traded minnow recently announced that it had taken a stake in the Aje Field on the OML 113 licence, offshore Nigeria. MX has always been touted as a specialist Mexican play; a distinction that has carried more weight ever since last year's announcement confirming the liberalisation of the country's energy markets - currently dominated by state-controlled PEMEX.
The new free-for-all got off to an inauspicious start as the inaugural tender process for the country's offshore oil assets hit the buffers midway through last month, when only two out of 14 exploratory shallow-water blocks being auctioned were awarded. Mexico has subsequently delayed a deepwater auction and sweetened bid terms to attract more bidders.
According to management, the larger offshore plays are off the menu for MX. Instead, the driller intends to enter the fray when some onshore conventional opportunities arise. In the meantime, MX's shareholders can content themselves with events in Nigeria, where drilling is under way. MX's chairman - and founder of Cornhill Asset Management - Andrew Fargos is now an interested party, having forked out £87,750 for 2.25m shares in the company.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Allergy Therapeutics | Manuel Llobet (ce) | 24 Jul 15 | 50,000 | 24.45 | 12,225 | 3,175,000 | 0.582 |
| Anglo American † | Dr. Byron Grote | 29 Jul 15 | 2,500 | 807.32 | 20,183 | 18,500 | 0.001 |
| Aukett Swanke ♢ | John Bullough | 23 Jul 15 | 500,000 | 7.25 | 36,250 | 500,000 | 0.303 |
| Baillie Gifford Japan | NAC Bannerman (ch) | 27 Jul 15 | 1,412 | 467.81 | 6,605 | 8,496 | 0.011 |
| Beowulf Mining * | Bevan Metcalf (ch) | 23 Jul 15 | 1,200,000 | 1.25 | 15,000 | 2,165,841 | 0.505 |
| Beowulf Mining * | Kurt Budge (ce) | 23 Jul 15 | 1,200,000 | 1.25 | 15,000 | 2,249,759 | 0.524 |
| BlackRock Income Strategies ♥ | Lynn Ruddick | 24 Jul 15 | 26,000 | 137.1 | 35,646 | 165,482 | 0.060 |
| BlackRock Income Strategies | Lynn Ruddick | 24 Jul 15 | 11,000 | 137.1 | 15,081 | 139,482 | 0.051 |
| Brown (N) | Andrew Higginson (ch) | 29 Jul 15 | 645 | 328.11 | 2,116 | 94,991 | 0.034 |
| Capital Lease Aviation | Peter Freeman | 29 Jul 15 | 25,000 | 23 | 5,750 | 27,500 | 0.029 |
| Centrica | Ian Meakins | 27 Jul 15 | 1,079 | 273.15 | 2,947 | 17,253 | <0.001 |
| Centrica | Margherita Della Valle | 27 Jul 15 | 653 | 273.15 | 1,784 | 20,365 | <0.001 |
| Chrysalis VCT | Dr. M Knight | 28 Jul 15 | 7,900 | 61 | 4,819 | 275,132 | 0.920 |
| Dialight | Bill Ronald (ch) | 27 Jul 15 | 5,150 | 455 | 23,433 | 31,000 | 0.095 |
| Dialight | Stephen Bird | 28 Jul 15 | 8,000 | 410 | 32,800 | 28,000 | 0.086 |
| Dialight Ω | Bob Lambourne | 29 Jul 15 | 1,000 | 492.03 | 4,920 | 5,000 | 0.015 |
| Equatorial Palm Oil | Teh Sar Moh Nee | 29 Jul 15 | 3,225,000 | 3.67 | 118,358 | 3,225,000 | 0.905 |
| Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) * | Colin Bousfield (ch) | 24 Jul 15 | 83,333 | 6 | 5,000 | 83,333 | 0.034 |
| Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) * | Hugh Mackay (ce) | 24 Jul 15 | 166,666 | 6 | 10,000 | 2,507,549 | 1.024 |
| Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) * | Phil Greenhalgh (fd) | 24 Jul 15 | 83,333 | 6 | 5,000 | 520,973 | 0.213 |
| Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) * | Roderick Corrie | 24 Jul 15 | 116,000 | 6 | 6,960 | 541,820 | 0.221 |
| Frontera Resources Corp | Zaza Mamulaishvili | 27 Jul 15 | 11,079,417 | 0.8 | 88,635 | 82,532,443 | 2.518 |
| Frontera Resources Corp | Steve Nicandros (ch & ce) | 27 Jul 15 | 11,079,417 | 0.8 | 88,635 | 200,564,530 | 6.118 |
| Frontera Resources Corp | Stephen McGregor (cfo) | 27 Jul 15 | 2,014,440 | 0.8 | 16,116 | 18,558,732 | 0.566 |
| Goldplat | Brian Moritz (ch) | 28 Jul 15 | 100,000 | 2.23 | 2,230 | 3,450,000 | 2.048 |
| Imaginatik * | Matt Cooper (ch) | 23 Jul 15 | 250,000 | 6 | 15,000 | 22,929,576 | 27.072 |
| Imaginatik * | Simon Charles | 23 Jul 15 | 100,000 | 6 | 6,000 | 2,503,182 | 2.955 |
| Johnson Matthey | Christopher Mottershead | 27 Jul 15 | 889 | 2,759 | 24,528 | 889 | <0.001 |
| JPMorgan Emerging Markets | AC Page | 27 Jul 15 | 5,000 | 578.37 | 28,919 | 5,000 | 0.004 |
| K&C REIT | Patricia Farley Preston | 27 Jul 15 | 100,000 | 10 | 10,000 | 220,000 | 0.502 |
| LondonMetric Property ♥ | Mark Stirling | 28 Jul 15 | 15,200 | 161.04 | 24,478 | 1,660,557 | 0.264 |
| Lowland Investment Co | Dr. Kevin Carter | 27 Jul 15 | 3,000 | 1,373.60 | 41,208 | 8,000 | 0.030 |
| Montanaro European Smaller | Alex Hammond-Chambers | 28 Jul 15 | 2,500 | 532 | 13,300 | 25,000 | 0.149 |
| Mothercare | Mark Newton-Jones (ce) | 27 Jul 15 | 17,606 | 282 | 49,649 | 226,986 | 0.133 |
| Murray International Trust | Dr. Kevin Carter (ch) | 27 Jul 15 | 5,000 | 900.46 | 45,023 | 30,000 | 0.024 |
| Murray International Trust | Jim Best | 23 Jul 15 | 5,000 | 912 | 45,600 | 52,500 | 0.041 |
| MX Oil | Andrew Frangos (ch) | 27 Jul 15 | 2,250,000 | 3.9 | 87,750 | 2,250,000 | 0.595 |
| MySale | Iain McDonald (ch) | 27 Jul 15 | 60,000 | 44.91 | 26,949 | 148,482 | 0.099 |
| Northcote Energy | Randall Connally (ce) | 29 Jul 15 | 9,523,809 | 0.16 | 15,238 | 236,248,754 | 3.934 |
| Picton Property Income | Vic Holmes | 24 Jul 15 | 27,214 | 73.49 | 20,000 | 27,214 | 0.005 |
| Publishing Technology | Michael Cairns (ce) | 24 Jul 15 | 65,000 | 133 | 86,450 | 95,400 | 0.585 |
| Stewart & Wight | Robert Foux | 24 Jul 15 | 500 | 400 | 2,000 | 3,630 | 0.231 |
| Tarsus | Tim Haywood | 29 Jul 15 | 4,509 | 219 | 9,875 | 4,509 | 0.004 |
| Torotrak * | John McLaren | 23 Jul 15 | 157,143 | 7 | 11,000 | 323,809 | 0.059 |
| Torotrak * | Jonathan Hilton | 23 Jul 15 | 50,000,000 | 7 | 3,500,000 | 55,485,893 | 10.174 |
| Torotrak * | Rex Vevers (fd) | 23 Jul 15 | 357,143 | 7 | 25,000 | 634,920 | 0.116 |
| Torotrak * | Adam Robson (ce) | 23 Jul 15 | 428,571 | 7 | 30,000 | 428,571 | 0.079 |
| Torotrak * | Dr Nicolas Barter (ch) | 23 Jul 15 | 285,714 | 7 | 20,000 | 491,643 | 0.090 |
| Transense Technologies * | Nigel Rogers | 28 Jul 15 | 2,000,000 | 1.5 | 30,000 | 2,000,000 | 0.464 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Aukett Swanke ♢ | Andrew Murdoch | 23 Jul 15 | 500,000 | 7.25 | 36,250 | 12,478,486 | 7.553 |
| DCC | Tommy Breen (ce) | 27 Jul 15 | 40,000 | 4,937 | 1,974,800 | 220,744 | 0.250 |
| FastJet ♥ | Bryan Collings | 29 Jul 15 | 3,500,000 | 80 | 2,800,000 | 7,646,281 | 11.512 |
| Michelmersh Brick Holdings | Alan Hardy | 29 Jul 15 | 200,000 | 94.5 | 189,000 | 4,096,474 | 5.043 |
| Mid Wynd International ♥ | Russell Napier | 27 Jul 15 | 8,000 | 329 | 26,320 | 248,325 | 0.992 |
| Mid Wynd International | Russell Napier | 27 Jul 15 | 8,000 | 329 | 26,320 | 256,325 | 1.024 |
| Plexus Holdings | Ben van Bilderbeek (ce) | 28 Jul 15 | 930,233 | 215 | 2,000,001 | 57,769,768 | 64.641 |
| Sound Oil | James Parsons (ce) | 23 Jul 15 | 160,000 | 18.56 | 29,696 | 884,603 | 0.176 |
| Trakm8 Holdings * | Paul Wilson | 27 Jul 15 | 70,000 | 157.5 | 110,250 | 621,876 | 2.152 |
| Trakm8 Holdings * | Tim Cowley | 27 Jul 15 | 190,000 | 157.5 | 299,250 | 1,707,638 | 5.909 |
| Trakm8 Holdings * | Matt Cowley | 27 Jul 15 | 100,000 | 157.5 | 157,500 | 1,440,357 | 4.984 |
| Trakm8 Holdings ♥ * | John Watkins (ch) | 27 Jul 15 | 650,000 | 157.5 | 1,023,750 | 5,499,344 | 19.030 |
| Trakm8 Holdings ♥ * | James Hedges (fd) | 27 Jul 15 | 210,000 | 157.5 | 330,750 | 1,942,626 | 6.722 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party Ω ISA/SIPP/Trust † despositary receipts ♢ intra-company deal | |||||||
