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No smoke without ire for BATS

A non-executive of tobacco giant British American Tobacco has shown more faith in the group than Canadian smokers.
June 3, 2015

Dimitri Panayotopoulos, a non-executive director of British American Tobacco (BATS) just three months into his tenure, has parted with just over £100,000 in exchange for another 2,750 shares in the cigarette giant.

IC TIP: Hold at 3553p

The timing of the purchase was slightly unfortunate, coming a few days before a Canadian court ruled that group subsidiary Imperial Tobacco Canada will need to stump up around £5.4bn in damages to settle a class action suit brought by disgruntled smokers in Quebec. The court ruled that Imperial, along with the Canadian arms of Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International, need to fork out a total of CAN$15.6m (£8.2m) to compensate the plaintiffs, who contend that the companies failed to make them aware of the health risks associated with smoking.

BATS says "there are strong legal grounds with which to challenge both the overall judgement, and to seek a stay of the provisional execution order" (which mandated a payment of CAN$1.13bn in case of appeal). But whatever legal wheeze BATS' lawyers come up with, the case underlines what is now an entrenched risk factor for the industry. Anti-smoking lobbies continue to ratchet up pressure on legislators - a point borne out by the successful campaign to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products in the UK from May of next year.

Buys
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
AA Andrew Blowers27 May 154,866408.419,8734,8660.001
BlueRock Diamonds♥John Kilham27 May 15100,00011.411,400400,0001.269
Brammer Andrea Abt21 May 155,00031515,7505,0000.004
British American Tobacco Dimitri Panayotopoulos21 May 152,7503,638.30100,0533,300<0.001
Capital & Regional♥Louis Norval21 May 15750,00057427,500201,573,23728.765
Capital & Regional♥ Ian Krieger22 May 15100,0005959,000100,0000.014
Centrica Ian Meakins26 May 15720277.31,99715,477<0.001
Centrica Margherita Della Valle26 May 15643277.31,78318,488<0.001
Deltex Medical* Julian Cazalet22 May 15189,3141120,8254,872,1232.270
Eden Research♥Alex Abrey (cfo)26 May 15510,0001471,4001,038,1600.674
Homeserve Stella David21 May 1510,450430.644,99828,1380.008
Impax Environmental Markets Julia Le Blan21 May 155,000160.638,03110,0000.005
Inspired Capital Jeremy Coombes (ce)21 May 15535,0001474,9002,890,2061.319
Jarvis Securities Nicholas Crabb27 May 151,0003903,9005,0000.045
Johnston Press David King (cfo)21 May 159,00015814,22020,0000.019
Keller  Alain Michaelis (ce)22 May 1510,00899999,98010,0080.014
Masawara Stephen Folland22 May 1520,00051.8810,37520,0000.016
McBride Rik De Vos (ce)22 May 1520,0009819,60020,0000.011
Oxford BioMedica Dr. Andrew Heath21 May 15100,00010.610,6001,100,0000.043
Parkmead Group (The)*Philip Dayer21 May 1533,33312040,000143,9600.146
Parkmead Group (The)*Ryan Stroulger (fd)21 May 1520,83312025,000158,5570.160
Parkmead Group (The)*Tom Cross (ch & ce)21 May 1583,333120100,00018,850,77919.055
Premier Foods Ian Krieger22 May 15100,00044.3544,350404,0000.049
President Energy♥Peter Levine (ch & ce)22 May 15350,00011.7541,125167,167,27234.861
Rank Group (The) Clive Jennings (fd)21 May 1525,00020551,25025,0000.006
Rank Group (The) Henry Birch (ce)21 May 15100,000205205,000100,0000.026
Rio Tinto Paul Tellier27 May 152282,881.386,57022,1160.002
Rosslyn Data Technologies Hugh Cox22 May 1510,00014.1251,4139,554,91012.665
SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Dr. Charles Okeahalam22 May 15102,000127.5130,050502,0000.091
Sepura*Gordon Stuart22 May 151,0001301,30016,0000.009
Sepura*John Hughes (ch)22 May 1513,36413017,37353,3640.029
Sepura*Nigel Smith22 May 151,3331301,73321,3330.012
Sepura*Steve Chamberlain (cfo)22 May 154,6061305,98873,7040.040
Stock Spirits♥ David Maloney (ch)21 May 1515,000190.528,57520,0000.010
Synety  Simon Cleaver (ch)22 May 1517,1828714,948391,2483.225
Tungsten Corp Lincoln Jopp21 May 155,714804,57128,2120.026
Tungsten Corp Peter Kiernan21 May 152,857802,286185,0560.171
Tungsten Corp♥Edmund Truell (ce)21 May 15859,96180687,96918,381,08416.937

Sells
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Bank of Georgia Holdings Mikheil Gomarteli27 May 1515,0001,929289,350105,6010.267
Bodycote DF Landless (fd)27 May 1553,000745.13394,921250,2030.131
Daily Mail and General Trust Stephen Daintith (fd)27 May 159,23395588,1751,082<0.001
Daily Mail and General Trust Stephen Daintith (fd)27 May 152,20095220,94410,3150.003
Daily Mail and General Trust Lord Viscount Rothermere (ch)21 May 152,800,00095026,600,00061,531,18318.011
DCC Fergal O'Dwyer (cfo)26 May 1535,0005,1251,793,750205,3890.232
Euromoney Institutional Investor PR Ensor (ch)21 May 155501,2006,600175,3680.137
Onesavings Bank Stephen Wilcke21 May 152,000,000298.665,973,140999,7110.411
Raven Russia*Anton Bilton22 May 153,549,515521,845,74852,560,9797.541
Raven Russia*Colin Smith22 May 15105,3715254,7931,475,2260.212
Raven Russia*Glyn Hirsch (ce)22 May 15579,35152301,2638,110,9511.164
Raven Russia*Mark Sinclair (cfo)22 May 15258,96952134,6643,642,3790.523
Raven Russia*Richard Jewson (ch)22 May 1519,083529,923267,1700.038
Raven Russia*Stephen Coe22 May 157,363523,829118,6670.017
Real Estate Investors Paul Bassi (ce)27 May 15200,00060.5121,0009,283,3334.980
Share†Gavin Oldham (ch)02 Jun 1510,884,84833.33,624,654 c. 97,716,00068.000
SThree Justin Hughes21 May 1575,000385288,750429,1970.337
SThree♥Justin Hughes21 May 156,50038525,025395,8570.311

*Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party ΩIsa/Sipp/Trust †Shares offered on market to fund 'Share Radio' venture.