Next has been cautiously optimistic about its trading prospects since the beginning of the year, so it's no surprise that after a late third-quarter sales rebound in September and October, group executive director Andrew Varley has decided to beef up his holding.
Mr Varley bought 10,000 shares at 3,648p apiece on 3 December, bringing his total number of shares in the UK clothing retailer to 69,817. Indeed, Mr Varley might have a point. The general retail sector has outperformed the broader UK stock market this year. According to the CBI, retail sales picked up in the first half of October and this momentum is expected to continue in the run up to Christmas. Next’s share price has been ticking up steadily, too, and is now trading at 3,643p - a five-year high. But trading conditions are tough and will remain so, as household budgets get squeezed even further by rising inflation. Several large retail chains have already gone bust this year. Even Next's management has urged caution, saying sales performance remained volatile. We keep Next firmly in place on hold.
Julia Bradshaw
Jupiter's Creedy grabs some cash
Jupiter Fund Management is operating in a tough environment, given the uncertainty generated by the eurozone crisis and volatility in financial markets in general. So achieving a net mutual fund inflow of £1.1bn in the first nine months of the year was pretty impressive, and it took assets under management up to £25bn. Net inflows into mutual funds totalled £795m in the third quarter, and investments were predominantly into funds positioned towards the more cautious end of the risk spectrum such as Merlin Income. This trend is expected to continue, given the current fragility of financial markets. Meanwhile, chief operating officer Adrian Creedy has sold 200,000 shares at 278p, raising £557,000, although he still holds a further 3.17m. This follows the sale of 100,000 shares at 266.75p last month by finance director Phillip Johnson, taking his holding down to 1.6m shares.
Jonas Crosland
Buys
| Company name | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberforth Geared Inc Trust | Michael Greig | 3 Dec 12 | 4,572 | 102 | 4,663 | 19,424 | 0.018 |
| Anpario | Richard Edwards | 29 Nov 12 | 20,000 | 106.5 | 21,300 | 62,681 | 0.32 |
| Anpario | Karen Prior (fd) | 29 Nov 12 | 20,000 | 106.5 | 21,300 | 40,001 | 0.2 |
| Assura | Simon Laffin (ch) | 28 Nov 12 | 900,000 | 34 | 306,000 | 2,104,095 | 0.4 |
| Autoclenz | M Stone | 28 Nov 12 | 121,000 | 30.5 | 36,905 | 1,065,600 | 10.25 |
| Autoclenz | J Leek (ch) | 28 Nov 12 | 40,000 | 30.5 | 12,200 | 89,598 | 0.86 |
| Avanti Communications | Paul Walsh | 29 Nov 12 | 10,000 | 217 | 21,700 | 107,428 | 0.1 |
| BP | Prof Dame Ann Dowling | 28 Nov 12 | 11,630 | 429.9 | 49,997 | - | - |
| Breedon Aggregates | Peter Tom | 29 Nov 12 | 750,000 | 0.2 | 1,500 | 34,966,665 | 5.4 |
| Breedon Aggregates | David Williams | 29 Nov 12 | 500,000 | 0.2 | 1,000 | 13,712,133 | 2.12 |
| Breedon Aggregates | David Warr | 29 Nov 12 | 1,000,000 | 0.2 | 2,000 | 5,055,556 | 0.78 |
| Breedon Aggregates | Susie Farnon | 29 Nov 12 | 250,000 | 0.2 | 500 | 1,650,000 | 0.25 |
| Brooks Macdonald | Diane Seymour- Williams | 26 Nov 12 | 1,000 | 1320 | 13,200 | 5,000 | 0.04 |
| Elektron Technology | Keith Daley (ch) | 27 Nov 12 | 1,286,700 | 16.048 | 206,490 | 15,569,851 | 13.03 |
| Energy Assets | John McMorrow (fo) | 29 Nov 12 | 3,000 | 204 | 6,120 | 33,000 | 0.01 |
| Energy XXI (Bermuda) | John Schiller Jr (ch, ceo) | 27 Nov 12 | 2,000 | US$30.95 | US$61,900 | 1,426,598 | 1.798 |
| Future | Manjit Wolstenholme | 23 Nov 12 | 53,889 | 18.4 | 9,916 | 87,889 | 0.026 |
| Global Energy Development | Stephen Voss | 27 Nov 12 | 25,000 | 105 | 26,250 | 235,568 | 0.65 |
| Global Energy Development | Mikel Faulkner | 27 Nov 12 | 50,000 | 105 | 52,500 | 350,000 | 0.97 |
| Global Energy Development | Stephen Voss | 28 Nov 12 | 50,000 | 106 | 53,000 | 285,568 | 0.79 |
| Global Energy Development | Stephen Voss | 29 Nov 12 | 25,000 | 105 | 26,250 | 310,568 | 0.86 |
| Grainger | Simon Davies | 27 Nov 12 | 100,000 | 112.77 | 112,770 | 100,000 | 0.02 |
| Henderson European Focus | R Dennis | 27 Nov 12 | 2,515 | 620 | 15,593 | - | - |
| Henderson Far East Income | JB Russell | 29 Nov 12 | 7,000 | 305.05 | 21,354 | 40,000 | 0.04 |
| Johnson Matthey | CS Matthews | 27 Nov 12 | 2,000 | 2273.5 | 45,470 | 2,000 | - |
| Law Debenture | Robert Laing | 27 Nov 12 | 12,300 | 401.9 | 49,434 | 12,300 | 0.01 |
| Leni Gas & Oil | David Lenigas (ch) | 27 Nov 12 | 2,000,000 | 1.37 | 27,400 | 151,500,000 | 8.07 |
| Leni Gas & Oil | David Lenigas (ch) | 28 Nov 12 | 2,000,000 | 1.37 | 27,400 | 153,500,000 | 8.17 |
| Mastermailer | John Cunningham | 30 Nov 12 | 200,000 | 1 | 2,000 | - | - |
| Mitchells & Butlers | Alistair Darby | 27 Nov 12 | 1,084 | 318.4536 | 3,452 | 1,084 | - |
| Mitchells & Butlers | Eddie Irwin | 28 Nov 12 | 10,000 | 304.8 | 30,480 | 10,000 | - |
| NetPlay TV | Graham Stevens | 27 Nov 12 | 50,000 | 11.793 | 5,897 | 331,667 | 0.12 |
| Next | Andrew Varley | 3 Dec 12 | 10,000 | 3648 | 364,800 | 69,817 | 0.0433 |
| Ocado | Wendy Becker | 27 Nov 12 | 26,900 | 74 | 19,906 | 50,568 | 0.008 |
| Picton Properties | Rojer Lewis | 29 Nov 12 | 100,000 | 36.75 | 36,750 | 250,000 | 0.072 |
| Pinewood Shepperton | Lotd Michael Grade (ch) | 29 Nov 12 | 17,500 | 279 | 48,825 | 17,500 | 0.04 |
| Pinewood Shepperton | Steve Christian | 29 Nov 12 | 10,000 | 275 | 27,500 | 10,000 | 0.02 |
| Porvair | Charles Matthews | 28 Nov 12 | 5,000 | 150 | 7,500 | 30,000 | 0.07 |
| Quintain Estates & Devpt | William Rucker | 30 Nov 12 | 5,750 | 52.17 | 3,000 | 370,686 | 0.07 |
| Renold | Brian Tenner | 26 Nov 12 | 100,000 | 20.05 | 20,050 | 408,396 | 0.185 |
| Rexam | Johanna Waterous | 28 Nov 12 | 10,000 | 433.78 | 43,378 | 10,000 | - |
| Rio Tinto | Richard Goodmanson | 27 Nov 12 | 242 | 3003.888 | 7,269 | - | - |
| Rio Tinto | Ann Godbehere | 27 Nov 12 | 33 | 3003.888 | 991 | - | - |
| Rio Tinto | Paul Tellier | 27 Nov 12 | 210 | 3003.888 | 6,308 | - | - |
| Sagentia | Martyn Ratcliffe | 27 Nov 12 | 16,666 | 87 | 14,499 | 12,512,906 | 34.06 |
| Sagentia | David Courtley | 27 Nov 12 | 16,666 | 87 | 14,499 | 375,000 | 1.02 |
| Sagentia | Neil Elton | 27 Nov 12 | 16,666 | 87 | 14,499 | 101,914 | 0.28 |
| SDL | John Matthews | 27 Nov 12 | 5,000 | 425.6964 | 21,285 | 15,000 | 0.019 |
| Shaft Sinkers | Christopher Hall (cfo) | 28 Nov 12 | 13,000 | 42.5 | 5,525 | 23,000 | 0.05 |
| Spectra Systems | Dr Oussama Salam | 26 Nov 12 | 29,500 | 40 | 11,800 | 3,594,464 | 7.94 |
| Templeton Emerging Markets | Peter Harrison | 28 Nov 12 | 1,795 | 551.8 | 9,905 | 4,330 | 0.0013 |
| Terra Capital | Filip Montfort | 27 Nov 12 | 177,393 | US$0.79 | US$140,140 | 202,393 | 0.28 |
| Thomas Cook | Harriet Green | 28 Nov 12 | 500,000 | 23 | 115,000 | 500,000 | 0.06 |
| Thomas Cook | Frank Meysman | 28 Nov 12 | 100,000 | 24.573 | 24,573 | 300,000 | 0.03 |
| Thomas Cook | Martine Verluyten | 28 Nov 12 | 100,000 | 23 | 23,000 | 100,000 | 0.01 |
| TVC | Shane Reihill (ch) | 30 Nov 12 | 450,000 | 0.83 | 373,500 | 27,088,378 | 26.8 |
| VinaLand | Nicholas Brook | 27 Nov 12 | 93,000 | US$0.43 | US$39,990 | 243,000 | 0.05 |
| Walker Crips | MJW Rushton | 28 Nov 12 | 25,000 | 30 | 7,500 | 50,000 | 0.138 |
Sells
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AZ Electronic Materials | DR Ralph Dammel | 23 Nov 12 | 200,000 | 363 | 725,902 | 83,530 | 0.02 |
| Elan | Kelly Martin | 30 Nov 12 | 19,000 | US$10.04 | US$190,760 | - | - |
| Elan | Lars Ekman | 29 Nov 12 | 90,387 | US$10.2489 | US$926367 | - | - |
| Jupiter Fund Management | Adrian Creedy | 30 Nov 12 | 200,000 | 278.67 | 557,332 | 3,172,809 | 0.6932 |
| Marston's | Lord Hodgson | 30 Nov 12 | 1,153 | 125.90 | 1,452 | 86,264 | 0.015 |
| Smart Metering | Alan Foy | 30 Nov 12 | 4,444,979 | 215 | 9,556,705 | 8,889,958 | 10.67 |
| Smart Metering | Steve Timoney | 30 Nov 12 | 1,860,000 | 215 | 3,999,000 | 23,144,344 | 27.77 |
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
