Within days of publication of our recent buy call on Meggitt (MGGT), one of the group's non-executive directors decided to double his stake in the engineering contractor. Colin Day recently picked up another 25,000 shares for a total outlay of £113,350, his second significant acquisition since a similar-sized deal was completed in November 2015, a month after his appointment to the board. And why not? Mr Day's earlier tranche is already 16 per cent up from the deal price, and he would have also pocketed distributions worth 16.1p a share.
Admittedly, Meggitt has had its problems. Around the same time as Mr Day's arrival, the group was warning on profits, eventually prompting the predatory instincts of an activist investor in the form of Elliott Advisors, a hedge fund formed by Paul Singer. Timing is everything. Mr Singer's overtures to institutional investors drew a blank. That's unfortunate for the US billionaire as the group is now exiting a capital-intensive phase, freeing up cash flows and looking to reap the benefit of recent investments, including the capture of the advanced composites business of troubled stablemate Cobham (COB).
| Buys | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Aviva | Adrian Montague (ch) | 09 Mar 17 | 9,303 | 534.64 | 49,738 | 42,385 | 0.001 |
| Bacanora Minerals♥ | Mark Hohnen (ch) | 14 Mar 17 | 10,000 | 82 | 8,200 | 800,666 | 0.721 |
| Bacanora Minerals♥ | Mark Hohnen (ch) | 14 Mar 17 | 27,000 | 82 | 22,140 | 790,666 | 0.712 |
| Bacanora Minerals♥ | Mark Hohnen (ch) | 14 Mar 17 | 37,000 | 82 | 30,340 | 763,666 | 0.688 |
| Blancco Technology | Philip Rogerson | 15 Mar 17 | 10,000 | 253.21 | 25,321 | 17,500 | 0.030 |
| Blancco Technology | Tom Skelton | 14 Mar 17 | 10,000 | 251.5 | 25,150 | 10,000 | 0.017 |
| Blancco Technology | Rob Woodward (ch) | 14 Mar 17 | 6,035 | 252.5 | 15,238 | 17,994 | 0.031 |
| Capital & Regional | Tony Hales | 10 Mar 17 | 100,000 | 59.8 | 59,800 | 600,000 | 0.085 |
| Capital & Regional | Hugh Scott-Barrett (ceo) | 09 Mar 17 | 158,174 | 59.3 | 93,797 | 2,355,635 | 0.335 |
| City of London Investment Trust♥ | Simon Barratt | 15 Mar 17 | 12,000 | 417.3973 | 50,088 | 21,627 | 0.006 |
| Communisis | David Gilbertson | 09 Mar 17 | 100,000 | 49.895 | 49,895 | 100,000 | 0.048 |
| Direct Line Insurance♥ | John Reizenstein (cfo) | 09 Mar 17 | 15,600 | 337.7 | 52,681 | 211,252 | 0.015 |
| Everyman Media | Adam Kaye | 13 Mar 17 | 200,000 | 124 | 248,000 | 4,884,809 | 8.166 |
| G4S | Steven Mogford | 13 Mar 17 | 10,000 | 300.16 | 30,016 | 10,000 | 0.001 |
| Go-Ahead | David Brown (ceo) | 09 Mar 17 | 2,868 | 1726 | 49,502 | 98,640 | 0.229 |
| Grafton | David Arnold (cfo) | 13 Mar 17 | 4,377 | 656.28 | 28,725 | 28,640 | 0.012 |
| Homeserve | Mark Morris | 13 Mar 17 | 7,094 | 525.79 | 37,300 | 64,616 | 0.021 |
| Homeserve | Mark Morris | 14 Mar 17 | 7,100 | 524.76 | 37,258 | 71,716 | 0.023 |
| Laird | Kevin Dangerfield (cfo) | 10 Mar 17 | 25,000 | 190.01 | 47,503 | 35,000 | 0.013 |
| Laird | Michael Parker | 14 Mar 17 | 48,055 | 181 | 86,980 | 133,945 | 0.049 |
| Meggitt | Colin Day | 13 Mar 17 | 25,000 | 453.4 | 113,350 | 50,868 | 0.007 |
| PureCircle | John Gibney | 14 Mar 17 | 10,000 | 313 | 31,300 | 10,000 | 0.006 |
| PureCircle♥ | John Gibney | 14 Mar 17 | 10,000 | 313 | 31,300 | 20,000 | 0.012 |
| Spirent Communications | Eric Hutchinson (ceo) | 10 Mar 17 | 93,798 | 106 | 99,426 | 1,821,614 | 0.298 |
| Spirent Communications | Eric Hutchinson (ceo) | 15 Mar 17 | 182,713 | 108.875 | 198,929 | 2,004,327 | 0.328 |
| Spirent Communications♥ | Alex Walker (ch) | 10 Mar 17 | 75,000 | 106.2725 | 79,704 | 417,458 | 0.068 |
| Spirent Communications♥ | Paula Bell (cfo) | 15 Mar 17 | 72,000 | 108.5 | 78,120 | 72,000 | 0.012 |
| Standard Chartered♥ | José Viñals (ch) | 13 Mar 17 | 6,500 | 738.9 | 48,029 | 8,500 | 0.000 |
| Trakm8* | Keith Evans | 10 Mar 17 | 153,846 | 65 | 100,000 | 153,846 | 0.431 |
| Trakm8* | Matt Cowley | 10 Mar 17 | 153,846 | 65 | 100,000 | 1,744,203 | 4.887 |
| Trakm8* | John Watkins (ch) | 10 Mar 17 | 338,461 | 65 | 220,000 | 6,177,859 | 17.308 |
| Trakm8* | James Hedges (fd) | 10 Mar 17 | 107,692 | 65 | 70,000 | 2,250,318 | 6.304 |
| Trakm8* | Tim Cowley | 10 Mar 17 | 92,307 | 65 | 60,000 | 1,949,945 | 5.463 |
| Trakm8* | Bill Duffy | 10 Mar 17 | 100,000 | 65 | 65,000 | 140,000 | 0.392 |
| Tyman | Helen Clatworthy | 09 Mar 17 | 15,000 | 312.826 | 46,924 | 15,000 | 0.008 |
| ValiRx* | George Morris | 15 Mar 17 | 400,000 | 2.5 | 10,000 | 588,287 | 0.441 |
| ValiRx* | Satu Vainikka (ceo) | 15 Mar 17 | 400,000 | 2.5 | 10,000 | 624,909 | 0.469 |
| ValiRx* | Gerry Desler (fd) | 15 Mar 17 | 400,000 | 2.5 | 10,000 | 541,875 | 0.406 |
| W Resources*♥ | Michael Masterman (ch) | 14 Mar 17 | 42,857,142 | 0.35 | 150,000 | 1,036,541,840 | 22.658 |
| William Hill | Philip Bowcock (ceo) | 10 Mar 17 | 3,583 | 269.96 | 9,673 | 3,583 | 0.000 |
| William Hill | Philip Bowcock (ceo) | 10 Mar 17 | 5,597 | 270.7 | 15,151 | 14,785 | 0.002 |
| William Hill | Philip Bowcock (ceo) | 10 Mar 17 | 5,605 | 270.3 | 15,150 | 9,188 | 0.001 |
| William Hill | Philip Bowcock (ceo) | 10 Mar 17 | 15,215 | 270.81 | 41,204 | 30,000 | 0.003 |
| William Hill | Robin Terrell | 10 Mar 17 | 12,344 | 273.1 | 33,711 | 12,344 | 0.001 |
| William Hill | Roy Gardner | 10 Mar 17 | 10,000 | 270.7 | 27,070 | 22,600 | 0.003 |
| Sells | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Beazley | Adrian Cox | 14 Mar 17 | 4,000 | 436.5109 | 17,460 | 806,956 | 0.154 |
| Capital & Regional | Hugh Scott-Barrett (ceo) | 09 Mar 17 | 125,000 | 59.3 | 74,125 | 2,240,000 | 0.319 |
| Close Brothers♥ | Elizabeth Lee | 15 Mar 17 | 6,000 | 1,557.0024 | 93,420 | 30,265 | 0.020 |
| Greggs | Richard Hutton (fd) | 09 Mar 17 | 7,200 | 1,003.3454 | 72,241 | 29,724 | 0.029 |
| Jimmy Choo | Robert Singer | 13 Mar 17 | 120,000 | 166.3078 | 199,569 | 165,714 | 0.044 |
| Metro Bank | Gene Lockhart | 13 Mar 17 | 10,000 | 3,357 | 335,700 | 55,689 | 0.069 |
| Premier Veterinary | Dominic Tonner (ceo) | 10 Mar 17 | 619,167 | 225 | 1,393,126 | 1,799,670 | 12.072 |
| Premier Veterinary | Iain Ross | 10 Mar 17 | 116,084 | 225 | 261,189 | 389,725 | 2.614 |
| Premier Veterinary | Rajan Uppal | 10 Mar 17 | 1,614,749 | 225 | 3,633,185 | 5,421,138 | 36.365 |
| Purplebricks* | Michael Bruce (ceo) | 15 Mar 17 | 3,666,667 | 220 | 8,066,667 | 37,662,591 | 13.923 |
| Purplebricks* | Neil Cartwright (cfo) | 15 Mar 17 | 1,000,000 | 220 | 2,200,000 | 1,101,502 | 0.407 |
| Purplebricks* | William Whitehorn | 15 Mar 17 | 250,000 | 220 | 550,000 | 838,269 | 0.310 |
| Staffline | Andy Hogarth (ceo) | 14 Mar 17 | 55,000 | 1,150 | 632,500 | 1,560,504 | 5.603 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party | |||||||
