Revenue fell 18 per cent to £81.5m in the three months to September at spread betting specialist IG Group. But the figures were up against some tough comparatives - August last year was a record month in terms of revenue by a big margin, while the three months to September 2011 saw revenue up 30 per cent from a year earlier.
Even so, financial markets were generally quiet, so it was not surprising to see active client numbers down by 10 per cent, with revenue per client also lower by 9 per cent. However, the financial effects were offset to some extent by lower staff bonuses.
Moreover, apart from the unusual amount of business seen in the first quarter of last year, the first quarter of the financial year is traditionally the weakest for IG. As usual, revenue generation is expected to be weighted towards the second half.
So, we are happy to keep with our buy recommendation (434p, 9 September 2011), despite the fact that executive director and chief operating officer Peter Hetherington - who was appointed to the board 10 years ago, having joined as a graduate trainee in 1994 - has sold 156,012 shares for £705,646. However, he still holds another 100,000 shares.
Jonas Crosland
Lapping laps up £360,000
Netplay's recent solid set of results and the start of dividend payments triggered a share price spike of more than 20 per cent. This was the catalyst for a sizeable director share sale. While insomniac viewers tuned into the company’s stable of late-night games on their terrestrial television sets, non-executive director Andrew Lapping sold 3m shares in Netplay at a price of 12p, raising a tidy £360,000. Mr Lapping retains a large holding of nearly 12m shares, worth about £1.4m at current prices, and at 11.75p we'd keep buying the shares, too.
Julian Hofmann
Director buys
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Computer Software | Vin Murria (ceo) | 17 Sep 12 | 500,000 | 62 | 310,000 |
| Brightside | Dr Christopher Fay (ch) | 20 Sep 12 | 100,000 | 22 | 22,000 |
| Capital Shopping Centres | John Whittaker | 14 Sep 12 | 645 | 350.361 | 2,260 |
| Cello | Mark Scott (ceo) | 19 Sep 12 | 12,200 | 40.7 | 4,965 |
| Compass | John Bason | 20 Sep 12 | 932 | 711 | 6,627 |
| Electra Private Equity | Kate Barker | 20 Sep 12 | 500 | 1714 | 8,570 |
| F&C Commercial Property Trust | Chris Russell (ch) | 25 Sep 12 | 100,000 | 102 | 102,000 |
| Fyffes | James O'Dwyer | 19 Sep 12 | 50,000 | E0.51 | E25,500 |
| Henderson Asian Growth | C Keljik | 19 Sep 12 | 2,125 | 164.005 | 3,485 |
| Henderson High Income | Mrs M Littlejohns | 19 Sep 12 | 7,000 | 139 | 9,730 |
| In-Deed Online | Harry Hill | 18 Sep 12 | 30,000 | 34.6 | 10,380 |
| In-Deed Online | Peter Gordon | 18 Sep 12 | 30,000 | 34.6 | 10,380 |
| In-Deed Online | Boris Zhilin | 18 Sep 12 | 20,000 | 34.85 | 6,970 |
| Innovation | Chris Harrison | 17 Sep 12 | 70,790 | 19.8 | 14,016 |
| InterQuest | Mark Braund (ceo) | 21 Sep 12 | 74,000 | 37 | 27,380 |
| InterQuest | Gary Ashworth (ch) | 21 Sep 12 | 75,000 | 37 | 27,750 |
| INVESCO Leveraged High Yield | Peter Yates | 21 Sep 12 | 100,000 | 60.75 | 60,750 |
| Johnston Press | ISM Russell | 19 Sep 12 | 116,807 | 7.87 | 9,193 |
| Johnston Press | GM Iddison | 19 Sep 12 | 53,735 | 7.87 | 4,229 |
| Johnston Press | AS Marshall | 19 Sep 12 | 50,175 | 7.87 | 3,949 |
| Johnston Press | MA Pain | 19 Sep 12 | 43,228 | 7.87 | 3,402 |
| Johnston Press | CA Rhodes | 19 Sep 12 | 30,105 | 7.87 | 2,369 |
| Johnston Press | K Aamot | 19 Sep 12 | 50,175 | 7.87 | 3,949 |
| JPMorgan Mid-cap | Margaret Littlejohns | 25 Sep 12 | 2,000 | 454.75 | 9,095 |
| KBC Advanced Technology | Ian Godden (ch) | 25 Sep 12 | 37,500 | 53.2 | 19,950 |
| Ladbrokes | Ian Bull | 17 Sep 12 | 14,300 | 179.9765 | 25,737 |
| Macau Property Opportunities | Chris Russell | 24 Sep 12 | 31,500 | 109.3 | 34,430 |
| Macau Property Opportunities | Chris Russell | 25 Sep 12 | 21,048 | 110 | 23,153 |
| Man | Nina Shapiro | 25 Sep 12 | 18,258 | 87 | 15,884 |
| Mid Wynd International Inv Trust | Harry Morgan | 20 Sep 12 | 2,000 | 236.5 | 4,730 |
| Murray International Trust | Marcia Campbell | 13 Sep 12 | 5,338 | 1005 | 53,647 |
| Norcon | Trond Tostrup (ch) | 24 Sep 12 | 100,000 | 19.5 | 19,500 |
| Regenersis | Jog Dhody (cfo) | 25 Sep 12 | 155,987 | 101.5 | 158,327 |
| SABMiller | JA Manzoni | 25 Sep 12 | 461 | 2730 | 12,585 |
| Segro | Christopher Fisher | 19 Sep 12 | 10,000 | 236.31 | 23,631 |
| Stewart & Wight | D Conn | 20 Sep 12 | 464 | 500 | 2,320 |
| Stilo International | David Ashman (ch) | 21 Sep 12 | 500,000 | 3.8 | 19,000 |
| Thorntons | Mike Killick (fd) | 21 Sep 12 | 3,562 | 31.5 | 1,122 |
| Treatt | Tim Jones (ch) | 24 Sep 12 | 1,403 | 325.35 | 4,565 |
| UniVision | Stephen Koo (ch) | 24 Sep 12 | 750,000 | 0.5 | 3,750 |
| VietNam Holding | Nguyen Khanh | 17 Sep 12 | 10,000 | US$1.0125 | US$10,125 |
| Volex | Mike Tighe (ch) | 18 Sep 12 | 10,000 | 187 | 18,700 |
| Volex | Ray Walsh (ceo) | 18 Sep 12 | 7,500 | 187 | 14,025 |
Director sells
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Computer Software | Michael Jackson (ch) | 17 Sep 12 | 500,000 | 62 | 309,300 |
| Aggreko | Kash Pandya | 24 Sep 12 | 25,000 | 2,339.00 | 584,750 |
| Aggreko | George Walker | 24 Sep 12 | 45,000 | 2,328.00 | 1,047,600 |
| Aggreko | George Walker | 24 Sep 12 | 5,000 | 2,331.00 | 116,550 |
| Beazley | Jonathan Gray | 24 Sep 12 | 250,000 | 165.22 | 413,050 |
| Dragon Oil | Alex Rideout | 21 Sep 12 | 10,000 | 608.16 | 60,816 |
| IG | Peter Hetherington | 21 Sep 12 | 156,012 | 452.30 | 705,642 |
| InterQuest | Michael Joyce (fd) | 21 Sep 12 | 50,000 | 37 | 18,500 |
| InterQuest | Alan Found | 21 Sep 12 | 50,000 | 37.00 | 18,500 |
| Keller | Gerry Brown | 20 Sep 12 | 7,840 | 524.20 | 41,097 |
| Mail.ru | Gregory Finger | 25 Sep 12 | 12,000,000 | US$34 | 408,000,000 |
| Nasstar | Lord Daresbury (ch) | 21 Sep 12 | 1,100,000 | 10.25 | 112,750 |
| Netplay | Andrew Lapping | 18 Sep 12 | 3,000,000 | 12.00 | 360,000 |
| Norcon | Marne Martin | 20 Sep 12 | 25,000 | 20.00 | 5,000 |
| Pennon | Simon Catford | 21 Sep 12 | 2,700 | 743 | 20,061 |
| Pennon | Dr Stephen Bird | 25 Sep 12 | 1,950 | 747.57 | 14,578 |
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
