One week on from Whitbread's (WTB) results - and news of chief executive Andy Harrison's departure - it has emerged that non-executive director Ian Cheshire has topped up his stake in the hospitality giant. The share price has dipped by about 4 per cent over the last week, thus presenting a rare opportunity for would-be buyers to follow suit.
IC TIP:
Hold
at
5,083p
Come July, Mr Harrison will leave Whitbread in great shape. Its two biggest brands - budget hotel chain Premier Inn and high-street stalwart Costa Coffee - are booming, with speculation building that Whitbread might consider a spin out of the Costa brand in coming years. Some City analysts suggest doing so could boost Whitbread's sum-of-the-parts valuation by 34 per cent given Costa Coffee's 'lack of synergy' with Premier Inn. It would also allow each brand to stand out as individual takeover targets in the future.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| AstraZeneca | Graham Chipchase | 28 Apr 15 | 1,100 | 4,606 | 50,666 | 3,000 | <0.001 |
| AstraZeneca | Baroness Vadera | 29 Apr 15 | 3,500 | 4,563 | 159,705 | 10,000 | 0.001 |
| AstraZeneca | Dr Bruce Burlington | 27 Apr 15 | 600 | 7,103 | 42,618 | 3,349 | <0.001 |
| AstraZeneca | Jean-Philippe Courtois | 28 Apr 15 | 2,500 | 4,536 | 113,400 | 5,135 | <0.001 |
| AstraZeneca † | Dr Cori Bargmann | 29 Apr 15 | 700 | 4,514 | 31,598 | 700 | <0.001 |
| Athelney Trust ♥ | Robin Boyle | 27 Apr 15 | 1,500 | 195 | 2,925 | 412,705 | 20.811 |
| Banco Santander SA | Bruce Carnegie-Brown | 29 Apr 15 | 10,000 | 682.5 | 68,250 | 10,002 | <0.001 |
| Brown (N) | Andrew Higginson (ch) | 29 Apr 15 | 646 | 327.8 | 2,118 | 93,109 | 0.033 |
| Capital & Regional ♥ | Louis Norval | 29 Apr 15 | 400,000 | 56.2 | 224,800 | 197,048,099 | 28.119 |
| Capital & Regional ♥ | Louis Norval | 28 Apr 15 | 600,000 | 56.2 | 337,200 | 196,648,099 | 28.062 |
| Cenkos Securities | Jeff Hewitt | 28 Apr 15 | 11,641 | 203.9 | 23,736 | 48,121 | 0.081 |
| Centrica | Ian Meakins | 27 Apr 15 | 884 | 267.05 | 2,361 | 14,757 | <0.001 |
| Centrica | Margherita Della Valle | 27 Apr 15 | 667 | 267.05 | 1,781 | 17,845 | <0.001 |
| CloudTag Inc | Amit Ben-Haim (ce) | 23 Apr 15 | 546,831 | 3.58 | 19,577 | 7,213,498 | 4.326 |
| Computacenter | Greg Lock (ch) | 23 Apr 15 | 5,000 | 673 | 33,650 | 310,927 | 0.253 |
| Computacenter | Greg Lock (ch) | 24 Apr 15 | 16,000 | 688.81 | 110,210 | 326,922 | 0.267 |
| Connect | Paul Kennedy (ch) | 24 Apr 15 | 2,000 | 152.7 | 3,054 | 2,000 | 0.001 |
| DFS Furniture ♥ | Christopher Mayhew | 27 Apr 15 | 15,900 | 276.83 | 44,015 | 19,821 | 0.009 |
| dotDigital | Simone Barratt (ce) | 28 Apr 15 | 63,700 | 29.95 | 19,078 | 375,200 | 0.131 |
| Gresham Computing ♥ | MME Royde | 24 Apr 15 | 50,000 | 95 | 47,500 | 5,927,164 | 9.373 |
| hVIVO | Jim Winschel Jr | 23 Apr 15 | 12,350 | 330 | 40,755 | 15,702 | 0.023 |
| IFG ♥ | Paul McNamara (ce) | 28 Apr 15 | 100,000 | 141.4 | 141,400 | 200,000 | 0.190 |
| Informa | Helen Owers | 28 Apr 15 | 1,000 | 573.93 | 5,739 | 1,000 | <0.001 |
| Intu Properties | John Whittaker | 27 Apr 15 | 1,400,000 | 351.23 | 4,917,262 | 299,055,452 | 22.710 |
| IS Solutions | Peter Simmonds | 28 Apr 15 | 91,500 | 54.5 | 49,868 | 91,500 | 0.259 |
| Jarvis Securities | Jolyon Head (fd) | 28 Apr 15 | 838 | 402 | 3,369 | 13,271 | 0.120 |
| Jarvis Securities ♥ | Jolyon Head (fd) | 23 Apr 15 | 262 | 402 | 1,053 | 11,405 | 0.103 |
| Jarvis Securities ♥ | Jolyon Head (fd) | 23 Apr 15 | 1,289 | 402 | 5,182 | 11,143 | 0.101 |
| KBC Advanced Technologies ♥ | Oliver Scott | 24 Apr 15 | 50,000 | 95 | 47,500 | 10,647,550 | 12.985 |
| Liontrust Asset Management Ω | Adrian Collins (ch) | 29 Apr 15 | 1,875 | 288 | 5,400 | 405,902 | 0.893 |
| Liontrust Asset Management Ω | John Ions (ce) | 29 Apr 15 | 1,875 | 288 | 5,400 | 907,084 | 1.995 |
| Liontrust Asset Management Ω | Vinay Abrol (cfo) | 29 Apr 15 | 1,875 | 288 | 5,400 | 892,364 | 1.962 |
| Matomy Media | Ilan Shiloah (ch) | 23 Apr 15 | 11,500 | 145 | 16,675 | 13,862,851 | 14.996 |
| Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) | Richard Verdin | 29 Apr 15 | 523 | 220 | 1,151 | 10,464 | 0.021 |
| Phorm Corp * | Kent Ertugrul (ce) | 27 Apr 15 | 652,606 | 8 | 52,208 | 652,606 | 0.077 |
| Produce Investments | Sir David Naish | 28 Apr 15 | 7,000 | 137 | 9,590 | 7,000 | 0.026 |
| Regus | Lance Browne | 27 Apr 15 | 1,668 | 245.8 | 4,100 | 13,399 | 0.001 |
| Rio Tinto | Paul Tellier | 28 Apr 15 | 220 | 2,978.19 | 6,552 | 21,888 | 0.002 |
| River and Mercantile | K Hayes (cfo) | 29 Apr 15 | 47,287 | 210 | 99,303 | 193,932 | 0.236 |
| Shanta Gold | Dr Toby Bradbury (ce) | 24 Apr 15 | 50,000 | 8 | 4,000 | 50,000 | 0.011 |
| Sierra Rutile | Michael Barton (ch) | 23 Apr 15 | 51,000 | 19.5 | 9,945 | 799,474 | 0.153 |
| Slingsby (H C) | Morgan Morris (fd) | 24 Apr 15 | 1,000 | 400 | 4,000 | 1,000 | 0.100 |
| Sopheon | Barry Mence (ch) | 23 Apr 15 | 46,844 | 58.06 | 27,199 | 1,166,106 | 16.020 |
| Sopheon | Stuart Silcock | 23 Apr 15 | 14,639 | 58.06 | 8,500 | 190,596 | 2.618 |
| Sopheon | Dr. Bernard Al | 23 Apr 15 | 4,391 | 58.06 | 2,550 | 73,978 | 1.016 |
| Standard Chartered | Gay Huey Evans | 29 Apr 15 | 2,000 | 1,082.40 | 21,648 | 2,000 | <0.001 |
| Sweett | David Wilton | 23 Apr 15 | 20,500 | 24 | 4,920 | 65,834 | 0.096 |
| Sweett | Kim Berry | 23 Apr 15 | 20,500 | 24 | 4,920 | 4,535,785 | 6.604 |
| Sweett | Patrick Sinclair (cfo) | 23 Apr 15 | 20,500 | 24 | 4,920 | 72,943 | 0.106 |
| Sweett | Roger Mabey | 24 Apr 15 | 20,500 | 24 | 4,920 | 397,760 | 0.579 |
| Sweett | Alan Lovell | 23 Apr 15 | 50,000 | 24 | 12,000 | 100,000 | 0.146 |
| Sweett | Douglas McCormick (ce) | 23 Apr 15 | 20,500 | 24 | 4,920 | 20,500 | 0.030 |
| Sweett | John Dodds (ch) | 23 Apr 15 | 100,000 | 24.05 | 24,050 | 150,000 | 0.218 |
| Tesco | John Allan (ch) | 24 Apr 15 | 27,753 | 226.2 | 62,777 | 27,753 | <0.001 |
| Tesco ♥ | John Allan (ch) | 24 Apr 15 | 3,329 | 225.1 | 7,494 | 31,082 | <0.001 |
| Whitbread | Sir Ian Cheshire | 28 Apr 15 | 1,863 | 5,325 | 99,205 | 2,176 | 0.001 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Berkeley Group Holdings (The) | Tony Pidgley (ch) | 28 Apr 15 | 750,000 | 2,500 | 18,750,000 | 6,031,124 | 4.413 |
| Berkeley Group Holdings (The) | Rob Perrins | 28 Apr 15 | 250,000 | 2,500 | 6,250,000 | 1,461,792 | 1.070 |
| Bioventix | Peter Harrison (ce) | 29 Apr 15 | 53,000 | 800 | 424,000 | 608,176 | 12.041 |
| IS Solutions | Barrie Clark (ch) | 28 Apr 15 | 76,500 | 54.5 | 41,693 | 491,000 | 1.390 |
| Pearson | Robin Freestone (cfo) | 29 Apr 15 | 100,000 | 1,319 | 1,319,000 | 151,766 | 0.019 |
| Private Equity Investor | Peter Dicks (ch) | 23 Apr 15 | 3,100 | 234.26 | 7,262 | 12,338 | 0.103 |
| Signet Jewelers | Mark Light (ce) | 23 Apr 15 | 4,990 | 9,149.37 | 456,554 | 52,414 | 0.065 |
| Volga Gas | Vladimir Koshcheev | 24 Apr 15 | 25,000 | 68 | 17,000 | 419,210 | 0.517 |
*Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party Ω Isa/Sipp/trust | |||||||
