The board members of Johnston Press (JPR) weren’t afraid to open their wallets to support the veteran publisher in its recent rights issue. Eight of nine board members bought shares, including chairman Ian Russell and chief executive Ashley Highfield, who shelled out £234,000 for 7.8 million shares and £198,000 for 6.6 million respectively.
Six directors sold a portion of their nil paid rights – their right to purchase shares at the current price or at a discount – in the 6.52 to 1 rights issue. That was to help them afford the remainder of their rights, a practice known as ‘tail swallowing’. Mr. Russell was the biggest seller, disposing of nearly 19.3m nil paid rights, leaving him with fewer than 12 million shares or less than 0.01 per cent of the issued share capital.
Johnston Press has so far raised £360m in gross proceeds through its rights issue and a recent bond offering. That should help to clean up its balance sheet - net debt of £302m at the end of last year was more than triple its equity - and help fund its painful transformation into a digital media group.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| 21st Century Technology | Glenn Robinson (fd) | 13 Jun 14 | 400,000 | 5.75 | 23,000 | 1,394,817 | 1.496 |
| 21st Century Technology | Russ Singleton (ce) | 13 Jun 14 | 600,000 | 5.75 | 34,500 | 2,100,000 | 2.252 |
| Belvoir Lettings | Andrew Borkowski | 13 Jun 14 | 15,615 | 127.75 | 19,948 | 15,615 | 0.065 |
| Big Yellow | Richard Cotton | 18 Jun 14 | 5,000 | 461.40 | 23,070 | 63,919 | 0.045 |
| boohoo.com | Peter Williams (ch) | 16 Jun 14 | 100,000 | 50.68 | 50,680 | 300,000 | 0.027 |
| Carclo | Christopher Malley (ce) | 17 Jun 14 | 23,773 | 114.29 | 27,170 | 43,385 | 0.066 |
| Carclo ♥ | Robert Brooksbank (fd) | 17 Jun 14 | 40,500 | 111.35 | 45,097 | 236,555 | 0.358 |
| Cineworld ♥ | Israel Greidinger (coo) | 13 Jun 14 | 625,000 | 341.55 | 2,134,688 | 69,354,694 | 26.294 |
| Cineworld ♥ | Moshe Greidinger (ce) | 13 Jun 14 | 625,000 | 341.55 | 2,134,688 | 69,354,694 | 26.294 |
| Countrywide | David Watson (ch) | 13 Jun 14 | 3,630 | 547.71 | 19,882 | 12,505 | 0.006 |
| Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities | MAB Negre | 12 Jun 14 | 750,000 | 160.5 | 1,203,750 | 750,000 | 0.357 |
| Enteq Upstream | Martin Perry (ce) | 13 Jun 14 | 200,000 | 37 | 74,000 | 908,802 | 1.542 |
| Faroe Petroleum * | Dr Jonathan Cooper (cfo) | 18 Jun 14 | 23,686 | 120 | 28,423 | 33,644 | 0.013 |
| Faroe Petroleum * | Graham Stewart (ce) | 18 Jun 14 | 50,022 | 120 | 60,026 | 363,287 | 0.136 |
| Faroe Petroleum * | Helge Hammer (coo) | 18 Jun 14 | 30,604 | 120 | 36,725 | 245,027 | 0.092 |
| Fusionex International | Alan Lim Wai Loong | 12 Jun 14 | 4,500 | 398 | 17,910 | 24,500 | 0.057 |
| Gresham Computing ♥ | M Royde | 13 Jun 14 | 49,000 | 130.43 | 63,910 | 5,626,354 | 8.898 |
| Independent Resources * | GG Nash (ch) | 18 Jun 14 | 6,666,667 | 3 | 200,000 | 13,393,205 | 12.738 |
| Johnston Press * | Ashley Highfield (ce) | 13 Jun 14 | 6,626,080 | 3 | 198,782 | 7,642,350 | 0.144 |
| Johnston Press * | Camilla Rhodes | 13 Jun 14 | 511,178 | 3 | 15,335 | 981,588 | 0.019 |
| Johnston Press * | Ian Russell (ch) | 13 Jun 14 | 7,835,401 | 3 | 235,062 | 11,996,441 | 0.227 |
| Johnston Press * | Kjell Aamot | 13 Jun 14 | 2,114,008 | 3 | 63,420 | 2,781,296 | 0.053 |
| Johnston Press * | Mark Pain | 13 Jun 14 | 803,473 | 3 | 24,104 | 1,498,791 | 0.028 |
| Johnston Press * | Ralph Marshall | 13 Jun 14 | 1,052,668 | 3 | 31,580 | 1,790,735 | 0.034 |
| Johnston Press * | Stephen van Rooyen | 13 Jun 14 | 307,444 | 3 | 9,223 | 354,598 | 0.007 |
| Metal Tiger * ♥ | Cameron Parry (ce) | 17 Jun 14 | 27,000,000 | 0.5 | 135,000 | 27,000,000 | 16.177 |
| Oxford BioMedica * | Dr Paul Blake | 17 Jun 14 | 1,250,000 | 2 | 25,000 | 1,783,097 | 0.071 |
| Oxford BioMedica * | Martin Diggle | 17 Jun 14 | 132,250,000 | 2 | 2,645,000 | 533,250,100 | 21.376 |
| Oxford BioMedica * | Tim Watts (cfo & cs) | 17 Jun 14 | 1,625,000 | 2 | 32,500 | 5,307,829 | 0.213 |
| Record | David Morrison | 18 Jun 14 | 40,000 | 34.6 | 13,850 | 40,000 | 0.018 |
| Rio Tinto | Ann Godbehere | 16 Jun 14 | 3,350 | 3,051 | 102,209 | 6,331 | <0.001 |
| RM2 International SA | Jan Dekker | 18 Jun 14 | 100,000 | 52 | 52,000 | 2,400,000 | 0.751 |
| Rotork ♥ | M J Lamb | 13 Jun 14 | 2,000 | 2,638 | 52,760 | 2,000 | 0.002 |
| Sirius Real Estate | James Peggie | 16 Jun 14 | 50,000 | 34.8 | 17,375 | 602,678 | 0.118 |
| Symphony International Holdings | Anil Thadani | 17 Jun 14 | 200,000 | 70 | 140,000 | 54,966,950 | 10.499 |
| Symphony International Holdings | Anil Thadani | 18 Jun 14 | 200,000 | 70 | 140,000 | 55,416,950 | 10.585 |
| Symphony International Holdings | Anil Thadani | 17 Jun 14 | 250,000 | 70 | 175,000 | 55,216,950 | 10.546 |
| Symphony International Holdings | Sunil Chandiramani | 17 Jun 14 | 150,000 | 70 | 105,000 | 14,823,744 | 2.831 |
| Symphony International Holdings | Sunil Chandiramani | 18 Jun 14 | 150,000 | 70 | 105,000 | 14,973,744 | 2.860 |
| Telit Communications | Oozi Cats (ce) | 13 Jun 14 | 100,000 | 208 | 208,000 | 22,300,357 | 19.681 |
| Volex | Christoph Eisenhardt (ce) | 13 Jun 14 | 63,274 | 79.02 | 49,999 | 88,274 | 0.133 |
| Volex | Daren Morris | 16 Jun 14 | 50,000 | 80.6 | 40,300 | 80,000 | 0.121 |
| Volex | Geraint Anderson | 19 Jun 14 | 30,000 | 80.92 | 24,276 | 24,276 | 0.040 |
| Volex | John Allkins | 17 Jun 14 | 87,500 | 80.05 | 70,044 | 87,500 | 0.132 |
| Volex | Karen Slatford (ch) | 19 Jun 14 | 25,000 | 80.96 | 20,240 | 55,000 | 0.080 |
| Wolseley | Alan Murray | 17 Jun 14 | 2,500 | 3,214 | 80,350 | 2,500 | <0.001 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Bloomsbury Publishing | Nigel Newton (ce) | 12 Jun 14 | 227,600 | 166.57 | 379,113 | 1,147,263 | 1.530 |
| CareTech Holdings ♥ | Stewart Wallace | 12 Jun 14 | 300,000 | 260.2 | 780,600 | 506,124 | 0.973 |
| Good Energy ♥ | Garry Peagam | 13 Jun 14 | 10,000 | 230 | 23,000 | 70,000 | 0.477 |
| Investec | Glynn Burger (fd) | 17 Jun 14 | 110,000 | 537 | 591,199 | 627,076 | 0.103 |
| Sanderson † | Christopher Winn (ch) | 13 Jun 14 | 300,000 | 66 | 198,000 | 12,465,000 | 23.986 |
* placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party † exercised 2.02m options at 50-54p on same day | |||||||
