Strutt stamps his mark on Edinburgh

The purchases amount to 61,000 ordinary shares which account for 0.12 per cent of the total number of shares in issue and are worth around £164,932. Mr Strutt is also a non-executive director of Smith & Williamson Holdings.

Edinburgh Worldwide has outperformed the average global growth investment trust over three and five years both in terms of net asset value and share price performance.

Leonora Walters

Morgan Crucible chief’s six-figure buy

Slower growth in China and India and weak demand from solar panel manufacturers trimmed sales at Morgan Crucible in the first four months of 2012. Inevitably, the shares have fallen; too far according to chief executive Mark Robertshaw who’s just spent over £100,000 on Morgan shares.

And there’s logic here. Strip out the underperforming bullet-proof panel business, now short of military vehicle work, and revenue rose 4 per cent. Demand from aerospace and industrial equipment customers was crucial, improving both revenue and margins at the ceramics division. It was mixed at the materials unit, but China looks to have turned a corner and sales of traditional seals and bearings are growing.

That was good enough for incoming chairman Andrew Shilston, finance boss at Rolls-Royce until last year. His wife has just bought 30,000 shares at 287p. Trading on a forward PE ratio of just 9 and ahead of a Capital Markets day on 24 May, we would follow suit. Buy.

Lee Wild

Thompson ups his Tullow stake

Simon Thompson, a non-executive director at Tullow Oil, has increased his stake in the company following positive drilling news from its Ngamia-1 well in Kenya’s Rift Basin. The director bought 8,419 shares in two separate tranches for a combined outlay of £124,340, taking his stake in Tullow to 10,166 shares. Tullow’s expectations for its Kenyan assets have improved markedly as for Ngamia-1 has opened a new basin, while significantly de-risking exploration in the region. The company has also confirmed that a drill-ship has been contracted to begin work shortly on further exploration of the Zaedyus discovery in French Guiana, as part of a capital budget for

2012 now expected to be in the region of $2bn (£1.25bn) as the company pursues its exploration-led growth strategy.

Mark Robinson

Director buys

Director sells

Table compiled by Robert Ansted.

Key to abbreviations: ch = chairman; ce = chief executive; cfo = chief financial officer; fd = finance director; coo = chief operating officer; cs =company secretary; md = managing director