Vitec chief executive Stephen Bird has sold a stake in the camera kit and transmitters company worth more than half a million pounds. However, this is not a red flag for investors, but a forced sale as part of a divorce settlement.
It seems reasonable to assume Mr Bird would have hung on to the shares under happier circumstances - he still owns 126,000 shares worth over £900,000 - given the recent half-year results and obvious potential for further growth. Margins are improving fast and underlying operating profit jumped a fifth to £18.9m. The Camera Corp and Haigh-Farr acquisitions look exciting, too.
He's not a regular seller, either. This is only the second time Mr Bird has hit the red button since taking the top job in April 2009, and only enough were sold first time round to cover a tax bill linked to a share incentive scheme. In fact, the only thing Mr Bird sells willingly are underperforming businesses - Clear-Com in 2010 and the low-margin staging business a few months ago.
Vitec's shares are up 5 per cent since we suggested buying them (687p, 6 Sep 2012) and next month's first-quarter update could be the catalyst for a push to new highs. Buy.
Lee Wild
Johnston sheds Personal shares
Personal Group (PGH) is going from strength to strength, and in the first half of this year it wrote a record £10.7m of insurance premiums. A bulk of its business involves hospital and convalescence plans for blue-collar workers, although there has been an increase in business from white-collar workers in the City of London looking to take out income protection. The group was established in 1984 as Personal Assurance by Christopher Johnston, who has 43 years' experience in the insurance industry, and remains a non-executive director. Prior to forming Personal, he was managing director of Multiple Health & Life Insurance, itself a merger between Charterhouse Magna Insurance and Multiple Brokerage Limited, the latter also established by Mr Johnston. Until recently, Mr Johnston, now 69 years of age, held around 51.9 per cent of the share capital, but on 4 October he sold 2.647m shares at 340p, raising £9m in the process, although he still holds 12.94m shares or 43.1 per cent of the equity. There was no announcement accompanying the sale, but putting 2.64m shares back into circulation will certainly help the free flow, which should now be around 32.6m of the 103.7m shares in issue.
Jonas Crosland
Director buys
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alkane Energy | Roger McDowell (ch) | 2 Oct 12 | 250,000 | 20.45 | 51,125 |
| Asian Plantation | Dennis Melka (j ceo) | 3 Oct 12 | 2,500 | 235 | 5,875 |
| Asian Plantation | Graeme Brown (j ceo) | 3 Oct 12 | 2,500 | 235 | 5,875 |
| Avarae Global Coins | Clem Chambers | 8 Oct 12 | 30,000 | 10.6 | 3,180 |
| BlackRock Smaller Companies | Robert Robertson | 8 Oct 12 | 10,000 | 529.5 | 52,950 |
| Brightside | Dr Christopher Fay (ch) | 4 Oct 12 | 65,000 | 24 | 15,600 |
| Catlin | Richard Banas | 5 Oct 12 | 4,577 | 288 | 30,000 |
| Eleco | ML Turner | 4 Oct 12 | 59,574 | 8.275 | 4,930 |
| Frontera Resources | Andrew Szescila | 1 Oct 12 | 1,000,000 | 0.46 | 4,600 |
| Frontera Resources | Andrew Szescila | 2 Oct 12 | 500,000 | 0.44 | 2,200 |
| Frontera Resources | Andrew Szescila | 5 Oct 12 | 500,000 | 0.44 | 2,200 |
| Frontier Mining | George Cole | 3 Oct 12 | 1,500,000 | 4.3 | 64,500 |
| Globo | Gavin Burnell | 4 Oct 12 | 27,500 | 23.5 | 6,463 |
| Globo | Dimitris Gryparis (fd) | 4 Oct 12 | 50,000 | 24 | 12,000 |
| Globo | Makis Bonanos | 4 Oct 12 | 50,000 | 24 | 12,000 |
| Halfords | Matt Davies (ceo) | 4 Oct 12 | 164,056 | 302.22 | 495,810 |
| Havelock Europa | Alastair Kerr | 4 Oct 12 | 10,000 | 14.7 | 1,470 |
| Havelock Europa | Alastair Kerr | 8 Oct 12 | 25,000 | 14.75 | 3,688 |
| Hydrogen | Tim Smeaton | 8 Oct 12 | 8,825 | 104.5 | 9,222 |
| Incadea | David Cotterell | 8 Oct 12 | 20,000 | 96.62 | 19,324 |
| Inspired Energy | Bob Holt (ch) | 8 Oct 12 | 270,833 | 3.5/4 | 10,000 |
| Inspired Energy | Jane Thornton (md) | 8 Oct 12 | 677,083 | 3.5/4 | 30,000 |
| Inspired Energy | Matthew Thornton | 8 Oct 12 | 677,083 | 3.5/4 | 30,000 |
| IPPlus | Geoffrey Forsyth | 5 Oct 12 | 40,000 | 15.75 | 6,300 |
| IPPlus | Geoffrey Forsyth | 4 Oct 12 | 10,000 | 14.5 | 1,450 |
| Kingfisher | Pascal Cagni | 3 Oct 12 | 30,000 | 263.49 | 79,047 |
| NCI Vehicle Rescue | Craig Duwell | 2 Oct 12 | 14,285 | 35.1 | 5,014 |
| NCI Vehicle Rescue | Richard Sharman | 2 Oct 12 | 37,142 | 35.1 | 13,037 |
| NCI Vehicle Rescue | Richard Jackson | 2 Oct 12 | 5,717 | 35.1 | 2,007 |
| NCI Vehicle Rescue | Craig Astbury | 2 Oct 12 | 35,714 | 35.1 | 12,536 |
| Neos | John Gunn | 4 Oct 12 | 1,000,000 | 0.5 | 5,000 |
| North Atlantic Sm Cos Inv Trust | Christopher Mills | 3 Oct 12 | 5,620 | 1,065 | 59,853 |
| Porta Communications | Brian Blasdale | 4 Oct 12 | 70,000 | 5.5 | 3,850 |
| PureCircle | Mei Sian Tan | 2 Oct 12 | 20,000 | 215 | 43,000 |
| PureCircle | Peter Lai Hock Meng | 8 Oct 12 | 1,000 | 210 | 2,100 |
| PureCircle | Peter Lai Hock Meng | 8 Oct 12 | 9,000 | 215 | 19,350 |
| Redhall | David Jackson (ch) | 2 Oct 12 | 38,190 | 51.76 | 19,767 |
| Redhall | David Jackson (ch) | 3 Oct 12 | 25,000 | 52 | 13,000 |
| Redhall | Phillip Hilling | 5 Oct 12 | 10,000 | 59.5 | 5,950 |
| Sutton Harbour | Michael Knight | 4 Oct 12 | 8,000 | 24 | 1,920 |
| Synety | Simon Cleaver (ch) | 3 Oct 12 | 25,000 | 80 | 20,000 |
| Synety | Simon Cleaver (ch) | 5 Oct 12 | 50,000 | 82 | 41,000 |
| Wasabi | John Byrne | 5 Oct 12 | 100,000 | 1.6 | US$1,600 |
| Wellington Market | Michael Chadwick | 8 Oct 12 | 30,000 | 32 | 9,600 |
| Workspace | Daniel Kitchen (ch) | 4 Oct 12 | 1,000* | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| WYG | David Jeffcoat | 2 Oct 12 | 95,441 | 52.125 | 49,749 |
Director sells
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G4S | Graham Levinsohn | 5 Oct 12 | 5,000 | 268 | 13,400 |
| Independent News & Media | Leslie Buckley | 3 Oct 12 | 100,000 | €0.12 | €12,100 |
| Johnston Press | Malcolm Vickers | 5 Oct 12 | 52,338 | 8.25 | 4,318 |
| Maple Energy | Roxana Guzman (cs) | 5 Oct 12 | 66,000 | 68.15 | 44,979 |
| Personal | Christopher Johnston | 4 Oct 12 | 2,647,059 | 340 | 9,000,001 |
| Rolls-Royce | John Paterson | 4 Oct 12 | 80,000 | 861 | 688,800 |
| Vitec | Stephen Bird (ceo) | 8 Oct 12 | 78,439 | 712 | 558,486 |
| Walker Greenback | John Sach | 2 Oct 12 | 100,000 | 72 | 71,500 |
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
