With premium rates under pressure, sentiment towards insurers has certainly been better. So perhaps it's not surprising that the boss's wife at Lloyd's underwriter Beazley (BEZ) has been selling shares. Chief executive Andrew Horton's spouse - Mrs Sophie Horton - offloaded 200,000 shares on 14 May, netting £489,000.
IC TIP:
Hold
at
238p
That's unlikely to reflect a judgement on Beazley's recent performance, however. Amid a still fairly benign claims backdrop, broker Numis expects the underwriter to deliver a 90 per cent combined ratio (of claims to premiums) for 2014. That suggests solid underwriting profits are likely this year. Meanwhile, Beazley's first-quarter results earlier this month revealed a reasonable annualised return on the group's investment portfolio of 2.1 per cent.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Aggreko | David Taylor-Smith | 12 May 14 | 6,900 | 1,660 | 114,540 | 13,152 | 0.005 |
| Aminex | Jay Bhattacherjee (ce) | 09 May 14 | 2,441,362 | 0.94186 | 22,994 | 40,662,982 | 2.206 |
| Aminex | Philip Thompson (coo) | 09 May 14 | 2,000,000 | 0.92963 | 18,593 | 155,525,869 | 8.436 |
| Azonto Petroleum | Andrew Rose (cfo) | 08 May 14 | 2,400,000 | 1.25 | 30,000 | 6,663,230 | 0.577 |
| Azonto Petroleum | Rob Shepherd | 08 May 14 | 2,400,000 | 1.25 | 30,000 | 9,992,945 | 0.865 |
| Bagir | Samuel Vlodinger | 14 May 14 | 133,333 | 22.5 | 30,000 | 133,333 | 0.265 |
| Balfour Beatty ♥ | IGT Ferguson | 12 May 14 | 10,000 | 225 | 22,500 | 55,000 | 0.008 |
| Balfour Beatty | S Marshall (ch) | 12 May 14 | 10,000 | 228 | 22,800 | 17,142 | 0.002 |
| Barclays | Crawford Gillies | 12 May 14 | 10,000 | 257.13 | 25,713 | 10,000 | <0.001 |
| British Polythene Industries | Ronald Marsh | 14 May 14 | 35,000 | 669.15 | 234,203 | 35,000 | 0.129 |
| CVS | Richard Connell (ch) | 09 May 14 | 3,500 | 289 | 10,115 | 83,891 | 0.144 |
| EKF Diagnostics Holdings | Dr Kevin Wilson | 08 May 14 | 50,000 | 25.07 | 12,535 | 1,187,846 | 0.281 |
| EKF Diagnostics Holdings | Julian Baines (ce) | 08 May 14 | 100,000 | 25.07 | 25,070 | 1,721,955 | 0.408 |
| EKF Diagnostics Holdings | David Evans (ch) | 08 May 14 | 100,000 | 25.07 | 25,070 | 1,705,753 | 0.404 |
| EKF Diagnostics Holdings | Paul Foulger (fd & cs) | 08 May 14 | 50,000 | 25.07 | 12,535 | 3,488,589 | 0.827 |
| Everyman Media | Michael Rosehill | 13 May 14 | 14,362 | 91 | 13,069 | 153,116 | 0.422 |
| Grafton | Charles Fisher | 12 May 14 | 10,000 | 613.5 | 61,350 | 30,000 | 0.013 |
| Gresham Computing ♥ | M Royde | 13 May 14 | 25,000 | 130 | 32,500 | 5,444,354 | 8.648 |
| Kofax | Chris Conway | 12 May 14 | 10,000 | 401 | 40,100 | 330,000 | 0.358 |
| Kofax | James Urry | 13 May 14 | 47,560 | 385.8921 | 183,530 | 6,187,147 | 6.709 |
| Northern Petroleum | Iain Lanaghan | 12 May 14 | 50,000 | 26.5 | 13,250 | 50,000 | 0.052 |
| Ocado | Duncan Tatton-Brown (cfo) | 08 May 14 | 47,865 | 305 | 145,988 | 107,865 | 0.017 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | Lewis Booth | 08 May 14 | 17,500 | 1,012 | 177,024 | 30,000 | 0.002 |
| Rolls-Royce Holdings | Ian Davis (ch) | 13 May 14 | 10,000 | 1,028 | 102,800 | 17,522 | <0.001 |
| Rotala ♥ | Dr John Gunn (ch) | 08 May 14 | 1,050,000 | 50 | 525,000 | 10,571,837 | 29.973 |
| S & U ♥ | Anthony Coombs (ch) | 08 May 14 | 600 | 1,910 | 11,460 | 1,453,427 | 12.303 |
| Sage Group (The) | Donald Brydon (ch) | 09 May 14 | 15,000 | 390.2 | 58,530 | 53,024 | 0.005 |
| San Leon Energy | Paul Sullivan | 08 May 14 | 1,000,000 | 2.69 | 26,900 | 60,840,000 | 2.403 |
| ServicePower Technologies | Lindsay Bury | 14 May 14 | 300,000 | 7.125 | 21,375 | 10,295,661 | 5.154 |
| ServicePower Technologies | Lindsay Bury | 12 May 14 | 733,062 | 6.1 | 44,717 | 9,995,661 | 5.004 |
| Solo Oil | Neil Ritson (ce) | 08 May 14 | 9,000,000 | 0.16 | 14,400 | 30,000,000 | 0.653 |
| Spirent Communications | Ian Brindle | 12 May 14 | 11,941 | 98.9 | 11,810 | 16,466 | 0.003 |
| Spirent Communications ♥ | Ian Brindle | 12 May 14 | 11,938 | 98.9 | 11,807 | 28,404 | 0.005 |
| Sylvania Platinum | Roger Williams | 14 May 14 | 194,000 | 7.2 | 13,968 | 367,000 | 0.124 |
| Xeros Technology | Charles Winward | 13 May 14 | 21,976 | 91.01 | 20,000 | 28,475 | 0.044 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Barr (A G) ♥ | ABC Short (fd) | 12 May 14 | 15,000 | 610 | 91,500 | 37,711 | 0.032 |
| Beazley ♥ | David Horton (ce) | 14 May 14 | 200,000 | 244.5 | 489,000 | 1,580,087 | 0.303 |
| Boot (Henry) ♥ | John Sutcliffe (fd) | 13 May 14 | 10,000 | 210 | 21,000 | 420,001 | 0.320 |
| British Polythene Industries | Andrew Green | 14 May 14 | 20,235 | 665 | 134,563 | 63,653 | 0.235 |
| CPL Resources | Garret Roche | 14 May 14 | 30,000 | 720 | 216,000 | 21,871 | 0.072 |
| CRH | Mark Towe | 08 May 14 | 18,000 | 1,670 | 300,613 | 97,511 | 0.013 |
| First Quantum Minerals | Martin Rowley | 08 May 14 | 15,000 | 1,287 | 193,079 | 665,005 | 0.113 |
| HellermannTyton | SJ Salmon (ce) | 13 May 14 | 289,000 | 309.67 | 894,946 | 1,000,742 | 0.465 |
| John Lewis of Hungerford | Karen Stanley (fd) | 12 May 14 | 500,000 | 2.3 | 11,500 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Lancashire Holdings | Robert Spass | 14 May 14 | 85,536 | 661.8 | 566,077 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Planet Payment Inc * | Philip Beck (ch) | 13 May 14 | 40,000 | 129.8162 | 51,926 | 2,015,822 | 3.675 |
| Randgold Resources | Andrew J Quinn | 13 May 14 | 600 | 4,570 | 27,421 | 4,800 | 0.005 |
| XP Power | Larry Tracey (ch) | 08 May 14 | 1,011,838 | 1,600 | 16,189,408 | 120,000 | 0.624 |
* executed pursuant to a Pre-set Diversification Program Agreement ♥ spouse/connected party | |||||||
