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Ocado's £15m goodbye

DIRECTORS' DEALS: Ocado co-founder Jason Gissing is leaving the online grocer he helped found with over £15m in cashed shares.
February 13, 2014

Ocado (OCDO) co-founder Jason Gissing has capped the announcement of his upcoming departure from the board by hiving-off over £15m in shares. Mr Gissing cashed in 3.05m shares at 499p a piece on 4 February, leaving him with a balance of 14.9m shares. After 14 years with the company, the current commercial director intends to step down at the May AGM.

IC TIP: Hold at 563p

His involvement is coming to an end just as the first online orders linked to last year’s 25-year deal with Morrisons (MRW) wend their way out to punters. The sale might have initially raised eyebrows, given that it came on the day Ocado reported widening full-year losses, but it was actually conducted through a blind trust, so Mr Gissing wasn’t involved in the decision. However, given that Ocado’s stock has appreciated by over 200 per cent since the Morrisons tie-up was announced, it’s unlikely the timing will have bothered the co-founder.

Buys 
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Aberdeen Asian Income Fund DAH Baxter04 Feb 145,71417510,00030,7140.016
Albion Enterprise VCT Lady Balfour of Burleigh31 Jan 141,71197.41,66724,8370.077
Albion Enterprise VCT MG Packe (ch)31 Jan 1461,60197.459,999260,1160.805
Albion Enterprise VCT †Lady Balfour of Burleigh31 Jan 141,71197.41,66726,5480.082
APC Technology  Leonard Seelig (ch)05 Feb 1441,15356.823,37586,9750.150
Ariana Resources *William B Payne04 Feb 141,111,1110.910,0003,668,2890.571
Ariana Resources *Michael de Villiers (ch)04 Feb 141,000,0000.99,00011,000,0001.712
Ariana Resources *Kerim Sener04 Feb 141,888,8880.917,00010,187,9791.585
ARM Holdings Stuart Chambers05 Feb 1410,00090490,40010,0000.001
Brewin Dolphin Holdings Ian Dewar04 Feb 143,296300.949,9193,2960.001
Chaarat Gold Holdings Richard Rae03 Feb 14200,0009.719,400200,0000.080
Conviviality Retail Martin Newman31 Jan 145,6001789,9685,6000.008
Daily Internet *Chris Evans31 Jan 14344,2901.655,6817,907,0261.940
Diageo ♥IM Menezes (ce)31 Jan 1434,0001,807.04614,394633,8020.025
Diageo ♥IM Menezes (ce)31 Jan 148361,452.0912,139634,6370.025
e2v technologies Dr Krishnamurthy Rajagopal03 Feb 1430,000157.9747,39150,0000.023
e2v technologies Neil Johnson (ch & ce)03 Feb 1450,00015778,500170,0000.078
Edinburgh Inv Trust (The) Victoria Hastings30 Jan 145,000583.7329,1875,0000.003
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Hugh Mackay (ce)30 Jan 14545,8808.244,7622,340,8831.143
Halma Daniela B Soares05 Feb 14583599.63,4961,3190.000
JPMorgan European Smaller †A Gupta03 Feb 141,5001,159.317,3901,5000.005
JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust Rosemary Morgan04 Feb 141,558318.54,9621,5580.001
Jupiter Green Inv Trust MA Naylor04 Feb 145,570142.327,9275,5700.021
Lombard Risk Management John McCormick03 Feb 143,835,00013498,5509,176,7563.484
Nasstar Nick Bate04 Feb 14750,0006.548,750750,0000.212
New India Inv Trust Rachel Beagles05 Feb 1410,000199.519,95010,0000.017
Northern Petroleum Keith Bush03 Feb 1485,00031.1826,50385,0000.089
Northern Petroleum Stewart Gibson03 Feb 14100,0003131,000100,0000.105
Paragon Resources Andrew Beveridge (ce)05 Feb 144,155,7870.249,97445,844,21310.523
Park  Michael De Kare-Silver03 Feb 145,000552,7505,0000.003
Park  Laura Carstensen03 Feb 149,000554,9509,0000.005
PZ Cussons James Steel03 Feb 145,00036318,15042,5000.010
Quintain Estates & Development William Rucker (ch)02 Feb 143,04098.673,000425,1400.082
Rurelec *Brian Rowbotham03 Feb 14100,00013.2513,250370,0000.066
Safestore Holdings *AH Martin04 Feb 1420,00017535,00040,0000.019
Safestore Holdings *I Krieger04 Feb 1420,00017535,00020,0000.010
Safestore Holdings *KG Edelman04 Feb 1425,00017543,75025,0000.012
Safestore Holdings *F Vecchioli (ce)04 Feb 14300,000175525,0001,451,3310.701
Safestore Holdings *A Jones (cfo)04 Feb 1430,00017552,50030,0000.014
Safestore Holdings *A Lewis (ch)04 Feb 14200,000175350,000400,0000.193
Sound Oil Simon Davies05 Feb 141,866,6674.685,86710,000,0003.068
Sound Oil *Tony Heath04 Feb 1428,3674.21,191241,1250.074
Sound Oil *Dr G Orbell04 Feb 14153,4664.26,4461,304,4660.400
Sound Oil *Simon Davies04 Feb 14933,3334.239,2008,133,3332.495
Sound Oil *James Parsons (ce)04 Feb 1458,1074.22,440321,4730.099
Sound Oil *Andrew Hockey (ch)04 Feb 1433,9704.21,42776,4700.023
Telford Homes David Campbell03 Feb 1411,21934738,93037,3190.063

Sells 
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Advanced Computer Software  Michael Jackson (ch)03 Feb 14300,000112.152336,4562,122,8840.446
Advanced Computer Software  Michael Jackson (ch)04 Feb 14212,312109.382232,2311,910,5720.401
Advanced Computer Software  Michael Jackson (ch)04 Feb 14487,688108.3528,1661,422,8840.299
Domino Printing Sciences Nigel Bond05 Feb 149,789793.477,66673,1800.065
International Greetings Dr. Elaine Bond05 Feb 1410,000707,00000.000
Lombard Risk Management John Wisbey (ce)03 Feb 141,567,50013203,775100,627,61738.208
Mattioli Woods Mark Smith04 Feb 1417,500415.572,71352,2460.262
Mattioli Woods Bob Woods (ch)31 Jan 14100,000415415,0003,293,70316.534
Ocado  Robert Gorrie04 Feb 14275,000501.81,379,950415,6600.067
Ocado  Jason Gissing04 Feb 143,050,000498.7515,211,87514,933,8002.415

* placing/open offer † spouse/connected party ♥ depositary receipt