Nick Robertson relinquished his role as Asos (ASC) chief executive last September, which might explain why the now non-executive director is selling down part of his stake. Mr Robertson founded the group 15 years ago, but has since handed over day-to-day management responsibilities to former chief operating officer Nick Beighton.
Despite netting himself £5.8m by selling close to 200,000 shares, Mr Robertson still owns a significant 8.15 per cent of the company. And it seems he's left the online retailer in good hands. Asos reported buoyant sales for the four months ended 31 December - up 22 per cent across the retail business - although margins are still under pressure due to ongoing price investments. Analysts at Shore Capital believe gross margins are down roughly 20 basis points year on year, but that's pretty good going given the usual prolific discounting in the run up to Christmas.
Buys | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
7digital | Sir Don Cruickshank (ch) | 21 Jan 16 | 653,000 | 6.125 | 39,996 | 943,000 | 0.870 |
Aberdeen New Dawn Investment Trust | Susie Rippingall | 25 Jan 16 | 12,500 | 139.43 | 17,429 | 25,000 | 0.020 |
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust | Robert Robertson | 26 Jan 16 | 6,000 | 876 | 52,560 | 86,062 | 0.180 |
Booker | Gary Hughes | 25 Jan 16 | 20,000 | 154.58 | 30,916 | 20,000 | 0.001 |
Booker ♥ | Karen Jones | 26 Jan 16 | 6,740 | 154.47 | 10,411 | 160,901 | 0.009 |
Caledonia Mining Corp | John Kelly | 22 Jan 16 | 16,965 | 41.27 | 7,002 | 16,965 | 0.033 |
Caledonia Mining Corp | John Kelly | 22 Jan 16 | 27,000 | 67.43 | 18,205 | 43,965 | 0.084 |
Carpetright | Wilf Walsh (ce) | 27 Jan 16 | 25,000 | 400 | 100,000 | 25,000 | 0.037 |
Carpetright ♥ | Neil Page (fd) | 27 Jan 16 | 6,250 | 400 | 25,000 | 22,282 | 0.033 |
Centrica | Ian Meakins | 25 Jan 16 | 976 | 206.7 | 2,017 | 22,510 | <0.001 |
Centrica | Margherita Della Valle | 25 Jan 16 | 963 | 206.7 | 1,991 | 25,617 | 0.001 |
Centrica | Steve Pusey | 25 Jan 16 | 898 | 206.7 | 1,856 | 22,468 | <0.001 |
City Merchants High Yield Trust | Winifred Robbins | 25 Jan 16 | 57,512 | 173.87 | 99,996 | 247,330 | 0.286 |
City Merchants High Yield Trust | Winifred Robbins | 26 Jan 16 | 28,887 | 173.08 | 49,998 | 276,217 | 0.320 |
City Merchants High Yield Trust | Winifred Robbins | 27 Jan 16 | 85,958 | 174.5 | 149,997 | 362,175 | 0.419 |
City Natural Resources High Yield Trust | Adrian Collins | 21 Jan 16 | 25,000 | 67.25 | 16,813 | 100,000 | 0.150 |
City Natural Resources High Yield Trust | Richard Prickett | 21 Jan 16 | 14,000 | 67.5 | 9,450 | 39,000 | 0.058 |
Collagen Solutions | David Evans (ch) | 21 Jan 16 | 1,000,000 | 7.5 | 75,000 | 13,888,730 | 8.103 |
Condor Gold | Sir Jim Mellon | 25 Jan 16 | 160,000 | 27 | 43,200 | 198,820 | 0.434 |
De La Rue ♥ | Philip Rogerson (ch) | 22 Jan 16 | 8,000 | 422.2 | 33,776 | 13,000 | 0.013 |
Dixons Carphone | Tony DeNunzio | 26 Jan 16 | 50,000 | 459.95 | 229,975 | 50,000 | 0.004 |
Fidelity China Special Situations | The Hon Peter Pleydell-Bouverie | 21 Jan 16 | 6,759 | 117.40 | 7,935 | 78,683 | 0.014 |
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust | S Hayes | 21 Jan 16 | 10,000 | 544 | 54,400 | 20,000 | 0.016 |
First Derivatives | Seamus Keating (ch) | 22 Jan 16 | 10,000 | 1,550 | 155,000 | 25,314 | 0.105 |
Fusionex International | John Croft (ch) | 25 Jan 16 | 13,800 | 148 | 20,424 | 24,800 | 0.052 |
Fusionex International | Robin Taylor | 27 Jan 16 | 3,836 | 130 | 4,987 | 16,663 | 0.035 |
Halfords | Jonny Mason (cfo) | 25 Jan 16 | 25,000 | 367.2 | 91,800 | 50,000 | 0.026 |
Halfords | Jonny Mason (cfo) | 27 Jan 16 | 25,000 | 374.99 | 93,748 | 75,000 | 0.038 |
Ideagen | David Hornsby (ce) | 26 Jan 16 | 42,000 | 47.5 | 19,950 | 9,446,033 | 5.281 |
International Biotechnology Trust | Caroline Gulliver | 25 Jan 16 | 2,500 | 468 | 11,700 | 5,000 | 0.013 |
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust ♥ | JRA Judd | 22 Jan 16 | 1,000 | 476 | 4,760 | 3,000 | 0.003 |
Lowland Investment Co | Karl Sternberg | 22 Jan 16 | 500 | 1,210 | 6,050 | 6,260 | 0.023 |
Lowland Investment Co | Robert Robertson | 26 Jan 16 | 5,000 | 1,175 | 58,750 | 39,225 | 0.145 |
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets | Rooney Anand | 22 Jan 16 | 12,500 | 160.36 | 20,045 | 12,500 | 0.001 |
Nostrum Oil & Gas | Eike v D Linden | 22 Jan 16 | 2,000 | 304 | 6,080 | 15,160 | 0.008 |
Polar Capital Technology Trust | M Charlotta Ginman-Jones | 21 Jan 16 | 2,744 | 552 | 15,147 | 2,744 | 0.002 |
Purplebricks | Michael Bruce (ce) | 26 Jan 16 | 320,000 | 78 | 249,600 | 41,237,225 | 17.164 |
Purplebricks | Paul Pindar (ch) | 26 Jan 16 | 300,000 | 78.16 | 234,480 | 11,020,281 | 4.587 |
Record ♥ | Dr Cees Schrauwers | 22 Jan 16 | 100,000 | 25.25 | 25,250 | 330,000 | 0.149 |
Rotala | Simon Dunn (ce) | 27 Jan 16 | 7,925 | 75.55 | 5,987 | 1,501,095 | 3.918 |
Sky | Dave Lewis | 27 Jan 16 | 289 | 1,047 | 3,026 | 8,773 | 0.001 |
Sky | Nick Ferguson (ch) | 27 Jan 16 | 548 | 1,047 | 5,738 | 42,140 | 0.002 |
Styles & Wood | Tony Lenehan (ce) | 26 Jan 16 | 3,500 | 250 | 8,750 | 24,688 | 0.349 |
Styles & Wood | Philip Lanigan (fd) | 26 Jan 16 | 2,000 | 250 | 5,000 | 12,413 | 0.175 |
SVG Capital Ω | Lynn Fordham (ce) | 28 Jan 16 | 47,218 | 482.66 | 227,901 | 531,024 | 0.330 |
Thalassa Holdings | Francis Smulders | 22 Jan 16 | 20,000 | 34 | 6,800 | 20,000 | 0.085 |
Universe | Robert Smeeton (fd) | 22 Jan 16 | 240,000 | 7.5 | 18,000 | 626,240 | 0.271 |
Sells | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
Asos | Nicholas Robertson | 21 Jan 16 | 198,586 | 2,915.50 | 5,789,783 | 6,801,414 | 8.152 |
Experian † | Brian Cassin (ce) | 25 Jan 16 | 24,044 | 1,142.72 | 274,756 | 117,098 | 0.012 |
Stobart | Andrew Tinkler (ce) | 27 Jan 16 | 824,939 | 104 | 857,937 | 28,476,811 | 8.270 |
SVG Capital Ω | Lynn Fordham (ce) | 25 Jan 16 | 36,759 | 482.66 | 177,420 | 483,806 | 0.302 |
Universe | Baljit Tank | 22 Jan 16 | 3,500,000 | 7.5 | 262,500 | 11,804,257 | 5.104 |
*Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party ΩTender offer †Shares sold to cover tax and social security under Recruitment & Retention Plan |