Perhaps reflecting confidence in restructuring plans at electronics retailer Darty (DRTY), various members of the group’s management team have recently been buying up shares in the company.
New chairman Alan Parker bought £58,860-worth of shares, while non executive directors Alison Reed and Agnès Touraine bought shares worth a total of £20,601. But it remains to be seen whether that confidence will be rewarded. After all Darty – which used to own the now closed UK electronics retailer, Comet – revealed that like-for-like sales had fallen 1.7 per cent with last month’s half-year figures. The group reported a €7.3m (£5.9m) pre- tax half-year loss, too. Sure, the group’s restructuring efforts look worthy enough – management plans to exit such weak non-core markets as Spain and Italy, as well as sub-scale markets such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic. But that will still leave Darty heavily exposed to France where the group generates some 70 per cent of sales – the French consumer electronics market, however, is hardly booming amidst eurozone-induced economic misery. Yet Darty’s shares, at 59.25p, trade on 16 times UBS’ adjusted earnings estimate for end-April 2013 – not cheap for a retailer with negative underlying sales growth.
Anything but torrid times at Dechra Pharmaceuticals
A predictably quiet season for directors’ dealings did produce a couple of interesting sales in the pharmaceutical sector, particularly at animal pharma company Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH). Ed Torr, the company’s head of product and business development, sold 50,000 shares at price of 600p, raising over £300,000 in the process. Mr Torr still retains nearly 425,000 shares, or 0.48 per cent of the total for Dechra. As well as useful Christmas money, the sale captures the good performance of Dechra’s share price, which is up more than 20 per cent in a year.
Buys
Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Total shares held | Value (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ACM Shipping | Johnny Plumbe (ch) | 18 Dec 12 | 21,062 | 142 | 29,908 | 959,234 | 4.9 |
Adriatic Oil | Bruno Müller (ceo) | 19 Dec 12 | 1,000,000 | 0.95 | 9,500 | 58,411,260 | 18.11 |
Adriatic Oil | Jack Wilson (ch) | 19 Dec 12 | 1,000,000 | 1 | 10,000 | 40,350,000 | 12.51 |
Adriatic Oil | Jack Wilson (ch) | 19 Dec 12 | 500,000 | 1.1 | 5,500 | 40,850,000 | 12.67 |
Adriatic Oil | Jack Wilson (ch) | 19 Dec 12 | 500,000 | 1.1 | 5,500 | 41,350,000 | 12.82 |
African Minerals | Dermot Coughlan | 27 Dec 12 | 50,000 | 313.32 | 156,660 | 50,000 | - |
African Minerals | Nina Shapiro | 27 Dec 12 | 25,000 | 313.32 | 78,330 | 84,560 | - |
Alent | Emma Fitzgerald | 19 Dec 12 | 6,000 | 329.9 | 19,794 | 6,000 | 0.002 |
Alent | Steve Corbett | 21 Dec 12 | 20,000 | 306 | 61,200 | 73,672 | 0.26 |
Alexander Mining | Emil Morfett | 18 Dec 12 | 200,000 | 5 | 10,000 | 200,000 | 0.15 |
Animalcare | James Lambert | 21 Dec 12 | 50,000 | 134 | 67,000 | 1,413,691 | 6.81 |
Berkeley Mineral Resources | Masoud Alikhani (ch) | 17 Dec 12 | 500,000 | 2.8 | 14,000 | 21,995,958 | 2.03 |
Berkeley Mineral Resources | Mark Wainwright | 17 Dec 12 | 85,000 | 2.8 | 2,380 | 1,430,648 | 0.13 |
Berkeley Mineral Resources | Horacio Furman | 17 Dec 12 | 85,000 | 2.8 | 2,380 | 3,019,779 | 0.28 |
Berkeley Mineral Resources | Masoud Alikhani (ch) | 18 Dec 12 | 700,000 | 2.8 | 19,600 | 22,695,958 | 2.1 |
Berkeley Mineral Resources | Masoud Alikhani (ch) | 19 Dec 12 | 200,000 | 2.9 | 5,800 | 22,895,958 | 2.11 |
BlackRock New Energy Inv | James Skea | 19 Dec 12 | 16,000 | 32.88 | 5,261 | 16,000 | 0.007 |
Cineworld | Martina King | 10 Dec 12 | 1,942 | 257 | 4,991 | 1,942 | - |
Corero Network Security | Jens Montanana | 21 Dec 12 | 75,000 | 24 | 18,000 | 15,943,687 | 27.33 |
Darty | Alan Parker (ch) | 19 Dec 12 | 100,000 | 58.86 | 58,860 | 120,000 | 0.023 |
Darty | Alison Reed | 19 Dec 12 | 20,000 | 58.86 | 11,772 | 20,000 | 0.004 |
Darty | AgnèsTouraine | 19 Dec 12 | 15,000 | 58.86 | 8,829 | 15,000 | 0.003 |
Devro | Paul Withers | 18 Dec 12 | 25,000 | 309.98 | 77,495 | 70,000 | 0.0423 |
Dods | Sir William Wells | 19 Dec 12 | 500,000 | 4.75 | 23,750 | 945,000 | 0.3 |
easyJet | Andrew Martin | 19 Dec 12 | 7,000 | 768.25 | 53,778 | 7,000 | - |
Experian | Deirdre Mahlan | 21 Dec 12 | 10,000 | US$16.08 | US$160,800 | - | - |
Hargreaves Lansdown | Stephen Robertson | 19 Dec 12 | 5,695 | 698.5 | 39,780 | 16,914 | 0.0036 |
Helical Bar | Nigel Scott | 21 Dec 12 | 8,999 | 233.5 | 21,013 | 2,722,556 | 2.3 |
Henderson Opportunities | R King | 19 Dec 12 | 2,000 | 477.2 | 9,544 | 3,000 | 0.04 |
Hightex | Charles Sebag-Montefiore | 19 Dec 12 | 500,000 | 2.05 | 10,250 | 7,500,000 | 2.65 |
Hiscox | Ernst Jansen | 28 Dec 12 | 3,961 | 448.9406 | 17,783 | - | - |
Hiscox | Andrea Rosen | 28 Dec 12 | 4,289 | 448.9406 | 19,255 | - | - |
Imagination Technologies | David Anderson | 18 Dec 12 | 1,000 | 397.435 | 3,974 | 6,675 | - |
Iomart | Crawford Beveridge | 14 Dec 12 | 18,000 | 195 | 35,100 | 30,000 | 0.03 |
Legal & General | Julia Wilson | 18 Dec 12 | 7,780 | 144.77 | 11,263 | - | - |
LMS Capital | Neil Lerner | 14 Dec 12 | 20,000 | 65.9 | 13,180 | 28,262 | 0.01 |
LMS Capital | Nicholas Friedlos | 18 Dec 12 | 30,702 | 65.1 | 19,987 | 42,404 | 0.02 |
Micro Focus | Kevin Loosemore | 27 Dec 12 | 26,807 | 577.8134 | 154,894 | 209,534 | 0.14 |
PureCircle | Tan Boon Seng | 27 Dec 12 | 30,000 | 237 | 71,100 | 31,228,150 | - |
Quindell Portfolio | Robert Terry (ch, ceo) | 27 Dec 12 | 625,000 | 16.12 | 100,750 | 682,750,000 | 19.9 |
Quindell Portfolio | Robert Terry (ch, ceo) | 28 Dec 12 | 250,000 | 16.43 | 41,075 | 683,000,000 | 19.9 |
Rangers Intl Football Club | Phil Cartmell | 19 Dec 12 | 25,800 | 76.5 | 19,737 | 25,800 | 0.04 |
Robert Walters | Leslie van de Walle (ch) | 20 Dec 12 | 15,000 | 200 | 30,000 | 15,000 | 0.02 |
SABMiller | JA Manzoni | 21 Dec 12 | 505 | 2,840.47 | 14,344 | - | - |
Scapa | James Wallace | 27 Dec 12 | 20,000 | 62.05 | 12,410 | 840,000 | 0.57 |
Skyepharma | Peter Grant | 21 Dec 12 | 40,000 | 70.81 | 28,324 | 61,697 | 0.1337 |
Skyepharma | Jean-Charles Tschudin | 21 Dec 12 | 100,000 | 71 | 70,810 | 112,578 | 0.2441 |
Strategic Natural Resources | Don Nicholson (d ch) | 17 Dec 12 | 25,000 | 26.38 | 6,595 | 25,000 | 0.02 |
Strategic Natural Resources | Don Nicholson (d ch) | 18 Dec 12 | 75,000 | 26.5 | 19,875 | 100,000 | 0.06 |
Terra Capital | Filip Montfort | 21 Dec 12 | 16,000 | US$0.79 | US$12,640 | 218,393 | 0.31 |
Value & Income Trust | Matthew Oakeshott | 20 Dec 12 | 50,000 | 189 | 94,500 | 2,739,793 | 11.6 |
Witan Pacific Inv Trust | Alan Barber | 19 Dec 12 | 6,000 | 209.7 | 12,582 | 30,000 | 0.045 |
Sells
Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Total shares held | Value (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
32Red | Edward Ware (ceo) | 24 Dec 12 | 400,000 | 38.50 | 154,000 | 17,500,000 | 24.8 |
Berendsen | David Lawler (sec) | 19 Dec 12 | 25,000 | 602.17 | 150,543 | 97,172 | - |
Carillion | Staffan Engstrom | 14 Dec 12 | 26,636 | 310 | 82,604 | - | - |
Cineworld | Tom McGrath | 18 Dec 12 | 126,000 | 258.69 | 325,949 | 5,000 | - |
Dechra Pharmaceuticals | Ed Torr | 21 Dec 12 | 50,000 | 600.53 | 300,265 | 424,552 | 0.488 |
Guinness Peat | Sir Ron Brierly | 19 Dec 12 | 5,000,000 | A$0.47 | A$2,350,000 | 31,882,765 | 2.01 |
Jardine Lloyd Thompson | Edward Lloyd | 18 Dec 12 | 47,000 | 760 | 357,200 | 309,988 | 0.1417 |
Jardine Matheson | EPK Weatherall | 20 Dec 12 | 100,000 | US$60.486 | US$6,048,600 | - | - |
Netplay TV | Andrew Lapping | 18 Dec 12 | 1,500,000 | 12 | 172,500 | 9,370,398 | - |
Paypoint | Michael Norton | 07 Dec 12 | 3,455 | 870 | 30,059 | nil | - |
Premier Foods | Iwan Williams (md) | 21 Dec 12 | 89,000 | 117.25 | 104,353 | 89,209 | 0.04 |
Xstrata | David Rough | 18 Dec 12 | 5,000 | 1,050.00 | 52,500 | - | - |
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