Shareholders in Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) have been put through the wringer of late. Earlier this month, the energy-focused engineering group announced that it was cutting its dividend payouts by half, starting with the final dividend for 2015. Management also warned that profit margins were under increased pressure as customers trawl around for industry savings. Amec's current programme of works is skewed towards less-profitable business, so management is targeting another $55m in cost admin cost savings in a bid to shore up earnings.
IC TIP:
Buy
at
478p
Four days after Amec dropped its bombshell, group chairman John Connolly nearly doubled his stake, forking out more than a £250,000 in the process. An act of faith that was subsequently rewarded by a 16 per cent fall in the share price. Mr Connolly is obviously in for the long-haul, which is just as well given that oil and gas capital budgets will remain strained through 2016.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Abcam | Alan Hirzel (ce) | 11 Nov 15 | 3,335 | 580 | 19,343 | 26,540 | 0.013 |
| Amec Foster Wheeler | John Connolly (ch) | 09 Nov 15 | 50,000 | 547.31 | 273,657 | 106,353 | 0.027 |
| Cambian | Saleem Asaria (ce) | 06 Nov 15 | 130,000 | 151.96 | 197,551 | 1,636,494 | 0.888 |
| Cambian | Dr. Graham Rich | 06 Nov 15 | 6,000 | 151.96 | 9,118 | 6,000 | 0.003 |
| Camellia | Malcolm Perkins (ch) | 11 Nov 15 | 100 | 9,099 | 9,099 | 1,673 | 0.061 |
| City of London Investment | Mark Dwyer | 09 Nov 15 | 15,000 | 336 | 50,400 | 25,000 | 0.093 |
| Empiric Student Property | Alexandra Mackesy | 05 Nov 15 | 23,000 | 108.94 | 25,056 | 23,000 | 0.008 |
| EPE Special Opportunities | Clive Spears | 09 Nov 15 | 20,000 | 108.5 | 21,700 | 65,255 | 0.240 |
| FastJet | Tim Ingram | 06 Nov 15 | 150,000 | 60 | 90,000 | 188,341 | 0.284 |
| Gfinity * | Tony Collyer (ch) | 09 Nov 15 | 131,579 | 19 | 25,000 | 1,034,579 | 1.329 |
| Gfinity * | Neville Upton (ce) | 09 Nov 15 | 131,579 | 19 | 25,000 | 14,710,579 | 18.897 |
| Go-Ahead (The) | Lady Innes-Ker | 05 Nov 15 | 116 | 2,523.67 | 2,927 | 116 | <0.001 |
| Grafenia | Alan Roberts (fd) | 09 Nov 15 | 180,000 | 15.7 | 28,260 | 500,000 | 1.051 |
| Grafenia | Peter Gunning (ce) | 09 Nov 15 | 201,935 | 15.5 | 31,300 | 886,581 | 1.864 |
| Gresham Computing ♥ | MME Royde | 06 Nov 15 | 25,000 | 108 | 27,000 | 6,269,664 | 9.915 |
| Hibernia REIT † | Kevin Nowlan (ce) | 10 Nov 15 | 4,101,179 | 82.525 | 3,384,502 | 4,249,237 | 0.624 |
| Hibernia REIT † | William Nowlan | 10 Nov 15 | 2,050,589 | 82.525 | 1,692,251 | 2,650,589 | 0.389 |
| International Personal Finance | Antony Hales | 09 Nov 15 | 25,000 | 379.85 | 94,964 | 75,000 | 0.033 |
| International Personal Finance | Jayne Almond | 05 Nov 15 | 21,300 | 369 | 78,597 | 21,300 | 0.009 |
| International Personal Finance | Jayne Almond | 05 Nov 15 | 21,300 | 369 | 78,597 | 41,300 | 0.018 |
| Laird | Jack Boyer | 10 Nov 15 | 7,000 | 345.7 | 24,199 | 17,000 | 0.006 |
| Laird | Kjersti Wiklund | 10 Nov 15 | 2,800 | 350.77 | 9,822 | 3,800 | 0.001 |
| Laird | Kjersti Wiklund | 10 Nov 15 | 6,200 | 347.5 | 21,545 | 10,000 | 0.004 |
| Laird | Michael Parker | 11 Nov 15 | 17,000 | 346.59 | 58,920 | 18,000 | 0.007 |
| Limitless Earth | Guido Contesso (ce) | 11 Nov 15 | 1,186,440 | 2.75 | 32,627 | 1,186,440 | 1.814 |
| Meggitt | Colin Day | 09 Nov 15 | 25,000 | 383.9 | 95,975 | 25,000 | 0.003 |
| National Express | Mike McKeon | 09 Nov 15 | 5,000 | 311.9 | 15,595 | 5,000 | 0.001 |
| Persimmon ♥ Ω | Jeff Fairburn (ce) | 10 Nov 15 | 404 | 1,874.55 | 7,573 | 154,315 | 0.050 |
| President Energy ♥ | Peter Levine (ch & ce) | 09 Nov 15 | 24,457,884 | 7.075 | 1,730,395 | 191,625,156 | 39.962 |
| Redx Pharma | Norman Molyneux | 05 Nov 15 | 6,250 | 80 | 5,000 | 254,865 | 0.392 |
| Redx Pharma | Dr. Frank Armstrong (ch) | 05 Nov 15 | 6,250 | 80 | 5,000 | 18,015 | 0.028 |
| Redx Pharma | Dr. Peter Jackson | 05 Nov 15 | 5,625 | 80 | 4,500 | 3,273,999 | 5.038 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | Ruth Cairnie | 09 Nov 15 | 275 | 705.5 | 1,940 | 7,121 | <0.001 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | Ian Davis (ch) | 09 Nov 15 | 280 | 705.5 | 1,975 | 37,154 | 0.002 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | Sir Frank Chapman | 09 Nov 15 | 561 | 705.5 | 3,958 | 14,303 | 0.001 |
| Safestyle UK | Steve Birmingham (ce) | 06 Nov 15 | 40,000 | 218.2 | 87,280 | 3,933,889 | 5.052 |
| SDL | Chris Batterham | 10 Nov15 | 13,105 | 407.74 | 53,434 | 100,000 | 0.123 |
| SDL | David Clayton (ch) | 06 Nov 15 | 73,950 | 402.37 | 297,553 | 113,950 | 0.140 |
| Smurfit Kappa | Jim Lawrence | 06 Nov 15 | 75,000 | 1,855 | 1,391,250 | 150,000 | 0.064 |
| Smurfit Kappa | Jim Lawrence | 06 Nov 15 | 75,000 | 1,831 | 1,373,250 | 75,000 | 0.032 |
| Spirent Communications | Jonathan Silver | 05 Nov 15 | 30,000 | 68.41 | 20,524 | 30,000 | 0.005 |
| Spirent Communications | Alex Walker (ch) | 06 Nov 15 | 50,000 | 69 | 34,500 | 270,959 | 0.044 |
| Synairgen | Simon Shaw (ch) | 11 Nov 15 | 65,217 | 23 | 15,000 | 1,474,096 | 1.614 |
| Synairgen | Dr Philip Monk | 11 Nov 15 | 21,729 | 23 | 4,998 | 183,439 | 0.201 |
| Synairgen | John Ward (fd) | 11 Nov 15 | 32,594 | 23 | 7,497 | 276,506 | 0.303 |
| Synairgen | Richard Marsden (ce) | 11 Nov 15 | 43,460 | 23 | 9,996 | 154,432 | 0.169 |
| TalkTalk Telecom | Dido Harding (ce) | 11 Nov 15 | 40,966 | 244.1 | 99,998 | 4,295,760 | 0.450 |
| TechFinancials Inc | Asaf Lahav (ce) | 05 Nov 15 | 269,830 | 14.5 | 39,125 | 9,322,075 | 13.671 |
| TechFinancials Inc | Jeremy Lange | 05 Nov 15 | 220,260 | 14.5 | 31,938 | 7,309,412 | 10.719 |
| URU Metals * | David Subotic (ch) | 05 Nov 15 | 5,000,000 | 0.4 | 20,000 | 10,350,000 | 4.520 |
| W Resources * | Michael Masterman (ch) | 10 Nov 15 | 15,000,000 | 0.5 | 75,000 | 932,215,835 | 26.084 |
| Zoltav Resources Inc | Marcus Rhodes | 10 Nov 15 | 15,000 | 32 | 4,800 | 15,000 | 0.011 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| 4imprint ♥ | AJ Scull | 05 Nov 15 | 11,383 | 1,286.0 | 146,385 | 121,617 | 0.435 |
| City of London Investment | Carlos Yuste | 09 Nov 15 | 27,425 | 336 | 92,148 | 0 | 0.000 |
| FastJet ♥ | Bryan Collings | 05 Nov 15 | 7,646,281 | 60 | 4,587,769 | 0 | 0.000 |
| International Personal Finance | David Broadbent | 06 Nov 15 | 20,585 | 375 | 77,194 | 237,404 | 0.106 |
| International Personal Finance ♥ | David Broadbent | 06 Nov 15 | 29,415 | 375 | 110,306 | 207,989 | 0.093 |
| Smurfit Kappa | Ian Curley (cfo) | 06 Nov 15 | 130,000 | 1,828 | 2,376,400 | 84,267 | 0.036 |
| Somero Enterprises Inc | Lawrence Horsch (ch) | 05 Nov 15 | 5,000 | 131 | 6,550 | 147,000 | 0.262 |
| Somero Enterprises Inc | Lawrence Horsch (ch) | 10 Nov 15 | 55,000 | 129 | 70,950 | 92,000 | 0.164 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party Ω ISA/SIPP/Trust † issued as consideration for the internalisation of the Investment Manager | |||||||
