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Capco directors buy on the cheap

Three directors at Capital & Counties have bought stock on the cheap after a sharp deceleration in the share price
March 3, 2016

There's nothing like a bit of share buying by directors to boost confidence, but in the case of Capital & Counties (CAPC) something more might be needed to reverse a near-third drop in the share price in the past six months, which includes an 8 per cent drop on the day 2015 results were announced in late February.

IC TIP: Sell

The Covent Garden property estate is doing well, but the residential development in Earls Court is feeling the squeeze on expensive property exerted through a combination of higher taxes and weaker demand from overseas buyers. In fact, when phase two of the sales programme was launched last September, CapCo released 70 flats, and by 10 November had reservations/sales on around 28 of them. But the same statement accompanied the finals results in February, which suggests that in the five months since November nothing has been sold. Sales inducements are already coming into play and this can only squeeze margins. Gary Yardley, the chief investment officer responsible for the Earls Court development, has bought 30,000 shares and was accompanied by a similar purchase by Soumen Das, chief financial officer, and 50,000 by chief executive Ian Hawksworth.

 

Buys
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Aberdeen Asian Income Fund PAK Arthur (ch)19 Feb 16345144497480670.025
Aberdeen Asian Income Fund PAK Arthur (ch)22 Feb 16338148500484050.025
Bank of Ireland ♥Andrew Keating (cfo)22 Feb 1695,19725.9724,723328,8050.001
Bank of Ireland (Governor & Co of)Richie Boucher (ce)22 Feb 16190,39825.9749,446571,3550.002
Capital & Counties Properties Soumen Das (fd)24 Feb 1630,000319.460995,838282,0180.033
Capital & Counties Properties Gary Yardley24 Feb 1630,000322.896,840472,9720.056
Capital & Counties Properties John Gerard Murphy24 Feb 1630,000332.399,69030,0000.004
Capital & Counties Properties Ian Hawksworth (ceo)24 Feb 1650,000319.4609159,730820,6040.097
Conygar Investment Company  Nigel Hamway (ch)24 Feb 1610,000166.9316,6931,009,7001.293
Datatec♥ C S Seabrooke18 Feb 16200,000209.3705418,741500,0000.239
DDD  Sanji Arisawa24 Feb 16400,0002.510,0002,889,2001.518
eServGlobal♥ John Conoley (ch)18 Feb 16241,0652.074,990917,0670.345
Gabelli Value Plus+ Trust Andrew Bell (ch)18 Feb 1625,0008621,500100,0000.100
Grainger Helen Gordon (ce)23 Feb 163,637216.257,86557,4230.014
Greene King♥ Mike Coupe23 Feb 161,690881.6714,9003,6900.001
Hogg Robinson  Paul Williams24 Feb 1635,0006623,100135,0000.041
Hogg Robinson  Nigel Northridge22 Feb 16100,0006666,000100,0000.031
International Biotechnology Trust Jim Horsburgh18 Feb 165,000421.7121,08615,0000.038
Jarvis Securities♥ Andrew Grant (ch & ceo)19 Feb 1618,50033762,3455,857,15053.130
McKay Securities Viscount Lifford24 Feb 1610,00023423,40070,0000.075
Morgan Advanced Materials Douglas Caster 24 Feb 1618,000214.138,53818,0000.006
MS International♥ Michael Bell (ch)22 Feb 1650,00019698,0004,885,17329.599
Oxford BioMedica Lorenzo Tallarigo25 Feb 1636,3706.5123,67736,3700.001
Oxford BioMedica♥ Martin Diggle24 Feb 1646,6936.352,965475,140,65517.579
Redefine International* Adrian Horsburgh23 Feb 1610,00042.54,25010,0000.001
Redefine International* Robert Orr23 Feb 1623,52942.510,00023,5290.001
Redefine International* Gavin Tipper23 Feb 16100,00042.542,500508,6300.029
Redefine International* Marc Wainer23 Feb 16195,00042.582,8751,676,5450.095
Redefine International* Michael Watters (ceo)23 Feb 16352,94142.5150,0006,515,6380.369
Segro Mark Robertshaw24 Feb 168,000419.733,57616,0000.002
Segro Christopher Fisher25 Feb 165,000415.620,80015,8420.002
Shaftesbury Hilary Riva 24 Feb 166,000823.9549,43716,4790.006
Smurfit Kappa♥  Christel Bories18 Feb 161,800226140,6981,8000.001
SSE Katie Bickerstaffe18 Feb 161,4211393.9919,8095,0790.001
Tungsten Corp Nick Parker (ch)18 Feb 1625,0006817,000350,0000.278
Vipera Martin Perrin (cfo)19 Feb 16150,0003.254,8751,070,0000.414
Vipera Marco Casartelli (ce)19 Feb 16300,0003.259,75030,694,30311.874
Vipera Mauro Duca19 Feb 16300,0003.259,7508,077,5003.125
Vipera Petter Neby19 Feb 16300,0003.259,75042,018,73016.255

Sells
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Baronsmead VCT 3 Andrew Karney24 Feb 1640,0009839,20064,3400.086
Diverse Income Trust Michael Wrobel (ch)19 Feb 1610,00090.49,040241,5390.063
MS International♥ David Pyle22 Feb 1650,00019698,0001,790,35910.848
*Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party ΩTender offer