Jonathan Sorrell joined troubled hedge fund manager Man Group (EMG) in August last year as head of strategy and corporate finance, and played a key role in the successful acquisition of global hedge fund research and investment specialist FRM Holdings. And in June this year he succeeded Kevin Hayes as finance director after Mr Hayes resigned to pursue other interests.
And there is plenty to do, with Man relying heavily on its flagship AHL fund for 70 per cent of group revenue. Conditions, punctuated by volatile swings in risk on/risk off trading, have hit the fund’s performance this year, with funds under management at the half-year down from $58.4bn at end-2011 to $52.7bn - the bulk of that slide reflecting a $2.4bn net outflow of funds. So Mr Sorrell has his work cut out, and has shown his commitment with the purchase of 304,878 shares at 82p each, costing a cool £250,000.
Allan parts with Premier shares
Robin Allan, the head of Premier Oil’s Asian portfolio, offloaded shares to the value of £1.14m in three separate tranches between the 7th and 14th of September. The director has obviously been busy over the past year as new production came on-stream from fields located in Vietnam and Indonesia. This new Asian input helped to boost Premier's ‘working interest’ production to 58,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 36,900 boepd a year earlier. Mr Allan benefited from a 7.9 per cent rise in Premier’s share price over the past three months, but other shareholders might be a little more reluctant to cash-in on any capital gains given that the company recently reaffirmed its intention to commence dividend payments at the year-end. These deals represent the first sales by a Premier executive since operations director, Neil Hawkings, hived-off 24,547 shares back in March.
Mark Robinson
Director buys
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allanfield | Darryl Noik | 14 Sep 12 | 15,000 | 70 | 10,500 |
| Allanfield | Gary Field | 14 Sep 12 | 3,000 | 70 | 2,100 |
| Anglesey Mining | Bill Hooley | 07 Sep 12 | 100,000 | 8 | 8,000 |
| Avesco | Richard Murray (ch) | 13 Sep 12 | 20,000 | 152 | 30,400 |
| Avesco | Richard Murray (ch) | 14 Sep 12 | 30,000 | 155 | 46,500 |
| Barclays | Sir David Walker (ch) | 11 Sep 12 | 2,000 | 206.4 | 4,128 |
| Barratt Developments | David Thomas (fd) | 12 Sep 12 | 20,000 | 160.9 | 32,180 |
| BlueCrest AllBlue Fund | Paul Meader | 13 Sep 12 | 7,500 | 166.33 | 12,475 |
| Burberry | Angela Ahrendts | 12 Sep 12 | 50,000 | 1086 | 543,000 |
| Burberry | Stacey Cartwright | 12 Sep 12 | 5,000 | 1100 | 55,000 |
| Burberry | Sir John Peace | 11 Sep 12 | 20,000 | 1088 | 217,600 |
| Burberry | Philip Bowman | 11 Sep 12 | 10,000 | 1101 | 110,100 |
| Burberry | Ian Carter | 11 Sep 12 | 4,000 | 1088 | 43,520 |
| Burberry | Stephanie George | 11 Sep 12 | 5,000 | US$18.3235 | US$91,618 |
| Burberry | John Smith | 11 Sep 12 | 1,031 | 1119.85 | 11,546 |
| Burberry | David Tyler | 12 Sep 12 | 2,000 | 1095 | 21,900 |
| Computacenter | Greg Lock (ch) | 17 Sep 12 | 4,400 | 402 | 17,688 |
| Elektron Technology | Keith Daley (ch) | 13 Sep 12 | 250,000 | 17 | 42,500 |
| Experian | George Rose | 14 Sep 12 | 20,000 | 1018.88 | 203,776 |
| Heath, Samuel | SB Heath (ch) | 11 Sep 12 | 5,000 | 315 | 15,750 |
| Hutchison China MediTech | Michael Howell | 11 Sep 12 | 31,800 | 435 | 138,330 |
| InterQuest | Mark Braund (ceo) | 14 Sep 12 | 25,000 | 37 | 9,250 |
| InterQuest | Gary Ashworth (ch) | 14 Sep 12 | 25,000 | 37 | 9,250 |
| Ironveld | Giles Clarke (ch) | 12 Sep 12 | 1,000,000 | 2.35 | 23,500 |
| Man | Jonathan Sorrell (cfo) | 13 Sep 12 | 304,878 | 82 | 250,000 |
| Murray Income Trust | Jean Craig Park | 14 Sep 12 | 3,000 | 684.6 | 20,538 |
| Paddy Power | Jane Lighting | 12 Sep 12 | 870 | E56.024252 | E48,741 |
| Redhall | Richard Shuttleworth | 14 Sep 12 | 30,000 | 63.6 | 19,080 |
| Renishaw | Mark Moloney | 10 Sep 12 | 87 | 1522 | 1,324 |
| RTC | Bill Douie | 17 Sep 12 | 134,375 | 10.25 | 13,773 |
| RTC | Andy Pendlebury | 17 Sep 12 | 134,375 | 10.25 | 13,773 |
| RTC | Andrew bailey | 17 Sep 12 | 134,375 | 10.25 | 13,773 |
| RTC | John White | 17 Sep 12 | 134,375 | 10.25 | 13,773 |
| RusPetro | Robert Jenkins | 14 Sep 12 | 50,000 | 112 | 56,000 |
| Standard Life | Elizabeth Harwerth | 12 Sep 12 | 10,000 | 277 | 27,700 |
| Thorntons | P Wilkinson | 13 Sep 12 | 665,503 | 29.748 | 197,974 |
| Thorntons | K Edelman | 13 Sep 12 | 66,547 | 29.748 | 19,796 |
| Tribal | Stephen Breach (fd) | 11 Sep 12 | 50,204 | 91.63 | 46,002 |
| Westhouse | Christopher Getley | 12 Sep 12 | 45,000 | 15.44 | 6,948 |
| Westhouse | Garth Milne (ch) | 14 Sep 12 | 75,000 | 16 | 12,000 |
Director sells
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative Networks | Edward Spurrier (cfo) | 13 Sep 12 | 50,000 | 248 | 124,000 |
| Alternative Networks | Ben Marnham (coo) | 13 Sep 12 | 50,000 | 248 | 124,000 |
| Computacenter | Neill Muller (cs) | 12 Sep 12 | 19,529 | 401 | 78,311 |
| CRH | Erik Bax | 12 Sep 12 | 9,000 | 1,230 | 110,700 |
| Ebiquity | Stephen Thomson | 12 Sep 12 | 3,000,000 | 90.00 | 2,700,000 |
| Energy XXI (Bermuda) | John Schiller Jr (ch,ceo) | 10 Sep 12 | 39,400 | US$35 | US$1,379,000 |
| Energy XXI (Bermuda) | John Schiller Jr (ch,ceo) | 10 Sep 12 | 10,600 | US$35 | US$371,000 |
| Hill & Smith | MA Tonks | 11 Sep 12 | 10,000 | 360 | 36,000 |
| InterQuest | Michael Joyce (fd) | 14 Sep 12 | 50,000 | 37.00 | 18,500 |
| ITV | Peter Fincham | 10 Sep 12 | 300,000 | 89.20 | 267,600 |
| Jupiter Fund Management | Christopher Crawford | 11 Sep 12 | 200,000 | 247 | 493,400 |
| Jupiter Fund Management | Afrian Creedy | 12 Sep 12 | 200,000 | 250 | 500,000 |
| Legal & General | Gareth Hoskin | 14 Sep 12 | 124,954 | 138.10 | 172,561 |
| Menzies, John | Dermot Jenkinson | 12 Sep 12 | 250,000 | 630.00 | 1,575,000 |
| Menzies, John | Dermot Jenkinson | 14 Sep 12 | 100,000 | 640.00 | 640,000 |
| Moneysupermarket.com | Simon Nixon | 13 Sep 12 | 7,461,891 | 134.42 | 10,030,274 |
| Pennon | Stephen Bird | 11 Sep 12 | 2,351 | 730.58 | 17,176 |
| Pennon | Susan Davy | 11 Sep 12 | 5,000 | 728 | 36,400 |
| Pennon | Kenneth Woodier | 14 Sep 12 | 19,000 | 736.50 | 139,935 |
| Premier Oil | RA Allan | 07 Sep 12 | 126,687 | 387.537 | 490,959 |
| Premier Oil | RA Allan | 10 Sep 12 | 20,029 | 383 | 76,711 |
| Premier Oil | RA Allan | 14 Sep 12 | 149,303 | 383.21 | 572,137 |
| Randgold Resources | GP Shuttleworth | 14 Sep 12 | 9,000 | 7,485.00 | 673,650 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | Paul Geddes | 10 Sep 12 | 39,498 | 245.71 | 97,049 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | John Hourican | 10 Sep 12 | 193,909 | 247.05 | 479,052 |
| Sainsbury, J | Tim Fallowfield | 17 Sep 12 | 10,000 | 338.93 | 33,893 |
| Unite | Mark Allan (ceo) | 14 Sep 12 | 161,164 | 256.58 | 413,515 |
| Wood Group | John Wood | 13 Sep 12 | 250,000 | 841 | 2,102,500 |
Table compiled by Robert Ansted.
Key to abbreviations: ch = chairman; ce = chief executive; cfo = chief financial officer; fd = finance director; coo = chief operating officer; cs =company secretary; md = managing director
