Former Lookers (LOOK) chief executive Peter Jones has jumped ship to take up the position of chairman for rival car retailer Vertu Motors (VTU) on 1 January 2015. To show his support for the company, he spent £171,000 on 300,000 shares - quite an endorsement.
A few days earlier, chief executive Robert Forrester and finance director Michael Sherwin also made substantial purchases, having just come out of the close period. Mr Forrester bought 64,521 shares at 57p for a total of £36,938, boosting his total stake in the company to 6,609,725 shares. Mr Sherwin acquired 17,671 shares at 56p apiece, for a consideration of £9,970, and now owns 345,659 shares.
The share dealings were noteworthy because they came just after Vertu released an upbeat trading statement. Management now believes the company's full-year performance will be ahead of market expectations. There are several tailwinds at play: underperforming companies snapped up by Vertu in previous years have been turned around and are now bearing fruit; higher-margin used car volumes are growing; and the aftersales division is benefiting from greater volumes and tight cost control.
Total revenues in the four months to 30 June were up 35 per cent, with like-for-like growth of 16 per cent. Gross profit 28 per cent higher, boosted by underlying growth of 10 per cent. However, management did flag that new car margins were under pressure as dealerships cut prices to hit manufacturer volume targets.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| BP † | Alan Boeckmann | 29 Jul 14 | 14,400 | 487.96 | 70,266 | 14,400 | <0.001 |
| Byotrol * | NIcholas Martel (ch) | 30 Jul 14 | 2,000,000 | 3 | 60,000 | 3,000,000 | 1.333 |
| Byotrol * | David Traynor (ce) | 30 Jul 14 | 416,667 | 3 | 12,500 | 4,696,668 | 2.087 |
| Byotrol * | Dr Till Medinger | 30 Jul 14 | 416,667 | 3 | 12,500 | 1,010,521 | 0.449 |
| Centrica | Lesley Knox | 28 Jul 14 | 650 | 313.3 | 2,036 | 8,830 | <0.001 |
| Centrica | Ian Meakins | 28 Jul 14 | 451 | 313.3 | 1,413 | 9,188 | <0.001 |
| Centrica | Margherita Della Valle | 28 Jul 14 | 557 | 313.3 | 1,745 | 11,565 | <0.001 |
| Ceres Power Holdings * | Phil Caldwell (ce) | 30 Jul 14 | 117,646 | 8.5 | 10,000 | 117,646 | 0.015 |
| Ceres Power Holdings * | Robert Trezona | 30 Jul 14 | 117,646 | 8.5 | 10,000 | 124,544 | 0.016 |
| Ceres Power Holdings * | Dr MR Lloyd | 30 Jul 14 | 470,588 | 8.5 | 40,000 | 783,088 | 0.101 |
| Ceres Power Holdings * | S Callaghan | 30 Jul 14 | 882,352 | 8.5 | 75,000 | 3,605,650 | 0.467 |
| Croda International | Dr Helena Ganczakowski | 24 Jul 14 | 350 | 2,124.34 | 7,435 | 350 | <0.001 |
| Cyan Holdings | Harry Berry | 25 Jul 14 | 5,000,000 | 0.38 | 19,000 | 5,000,000 | 0.145 |
| Elektron Technology | Andy Weatherstone (cfo) | 25 Jul 14 | 50,000 | 5.2 | 2,600 | 50,000 | 0.027 |
| Informa ♥ | Geoffrey Cooper | 30 Jul 14 | 10,252 | 487.69 | 49,998 | 10,252 | 0.002 |
| Intelligent Energy Holdings | John Maguire (cfo) | 28 Jul 14 | 21,574 | 231.75 | 49,998 | 21,574 | 0.011 |
| Intelligent Energy Holdings | Dr Henri Winand (ce) | 29 Jul 14 | 37,472 | 232.17 | 86,999 | 370,903 | 0.197 |
| Jupiter Fund Management | P Johnson (cfo) | 30 Jul 14 | 3,793 | 395.56 | 15,004 | 1,322,617 | 0.289 |
| Jupiter Fund Management * | P Johnson (cfo) | 30 Jul 14 | 3,767 | 395.3 | 14,891 | 1,326,384 | 0.290 |
| Kirkland Lake Gold Inc | Dawn Whittaker | 29 Jul 14 | 1,000 | 226.79 | 2,268 | 3,040 | 0.004 |
| Mitchells & Butlers | Tim Jones (fd) | 25 Jul 14 | 3,000 | 377.9 | 11,337 | 24,578 | 0.006 |
| Numis Corp | Robert Sutton | 28 Jul 14 | 12,500 | 246.48 | 30,810 | 12,500 | 0.011 |
| Premier Farnell | Val Gooding (ch) | 25 Jul 14 | 3,050 | 187.55 | 5,720 | 19,903 | 0.005 |
| Premier Farnell | Mark Whiteling (cfo) | 24 Jul 14 | 50,000 | 187.9 | 93,950 | 204,314 | 0.055 |
| RapidCloud International * | David Cotterell (ch) | 28 Jul 14 | 18,518 | 54 | 10,000 | 146,295 | 0.792 |
| ReNeuron | Michael Hunt (ce) | 25 Jul 14 | 93,892 | 3.5 | 3,286 | 1,346,915 | 0.075 |
| ReNeuron | Dr John Sinden | 25 Jul 14 | 93,892 | 3.5 | 3,286 | 2,305,794 | 0.129 |
| Royal Mail | Paul Murray | 30 Jul 14 | 12,304 | 421.52 | 51,864 | 15,334 | 0.002 |
| Scholium | Jasper Allen (ch) | 25 Jul 14 | 2,000 | 80 | 1,600 | 102,000 | 0.750 |
| Securities Trust of Scotland | AG Lennox | 25 Jul 14 | 20,000 | 143.75 | 28,750 | 20,000 | 0.016 |
| Spirit Pub Co | Tony Rice | 24 Jul 14 | 206,984 | 73.68 | 152,506 | 810,000 | 0.123 |
| Summit Corp | Glyn Edwards (ce) | 29 Jul 14 | 30,000 | 104.5 | 31,350 | 233,333 | 0.568 |
| Ted Baker | David Bernstein | 30 Jul 14 | 6,000 | 1,722 | 103,320 | 6,000 | 0.014 |
| ULS Technology | John Williams (fd) | 28 Jul 14 | 48,291 | 41 | 19,799 | 48,291 | 0.075 |
| Vertu Motors | Michael Sherwin (fd) | 24 Jul 14 | 17,671 | 56.42 | 9,970 | 345,659 | 0.102 |
| Vertu Motors | Robert Forrester (ce) | 24 Jul 14 | 64,521 | 57.25 | 36,938 | 6,609,725 | 1.942 |
| Vertu Motors | Peter Jones | 25 Jul 14 | 300,000 | 57 | 171,000 | 300,000 | 0.090 |
| Vodafone † | Omid Kordestani | 28 Jul 14 | 10,000 | 202.21 | 20,221 | 10,000 | <0.001 |
| Witan Pacific Investment Trust | AS Robson | 29 Jul 14 | 5,000 | 230 | 11,500 | 5,000 | 0.008 |
| Wolseley ♥ | Darren Shapland | 25 Jul 14 | 2,000 | 3,180.0 | 63,600 | 2,000 | <0.001 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Bullabulling Gold | Peter Mansell (ch) | 25 Jul 14 | 1,625,000 | 4.43 | 72,066 | 0 | 0 |
| Bullabulling Gold | Ronnie Beevor | 25 Jul 14 | 709,552 | 4.43 | 31,467 | 0 | 0 |
| Clontarf Energy ** | Dr John Teeling (ch) | 28 Jul 14 | 16,000,000 | 0.75 | 120,000 | 38,192,755 | 9.977 |
| Jarvis Securities | Jolyon Head (fd) | 30 Jul 14 | 5,000 | 525 | 26,250 | 4,666 | 0.042 |
| National Grid † | Tony King | 28 Jul 14 | 17,500 | 897.38 | 157,042 | 1,407,600 | 0.038 |
| Signet Jewelers | Thomas Plaskett | 24 Jul 14 | 450 | 6,250.99 | 28,129 | 13,347 | 0.017 |
| Spectris ♥ | Clive Watson (fd) | 29 Jul 14 | 1,941 | 1,915.50 | 37,180 | 119,500 | 0.101 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party † depositary receipts ** Following the issue of Directors Loan Shares | |||||||
