Shares change hands at Breedon

Breedon Aggregates (BREE) has been busy pursuing its aim to consolidate the UK’s aggregates industry, and recently completed the successful acquisition of a number of quarries from specialist landscape products group Marshalls (MSLH) for a final consideration of up to £19m. The quarries will provide a further 13m tonnes of mineral reserves, and follows the earlier purchase of quarries, asphalt and concrete plants in Scotland from Aggregate Industries for £34m. Mineral reserves and resources in the UK are now up to nearly 400m tonnes. And to help finance the deals, Breedon raised £61m through a 21p a share placing of 290m shares. More recently, two directors changed their stakes. Director Simon Vivian sold 800,000 shares at 26.5p a share, but still holds 2.64m, while chairman Peter Tom scooped up 600,000 shares at 26.75p a share to take his holding to 35.56m. Breedon’s attraction is its enormous mineral resources, and while the shares have risen 20 per cent from our buy recommendation (21p, 24 May 2012), we remain buyers.

Jonas Crosland

Sir Peter pumps up his holding

National Grid (NG.) share price slid 5 per cent last week as the utility sector fell out of favour with investors. Sir Peter Gershon, chairman of UK’s largest listed utility, decided to use the price weakness to almost double his interest in the company. Mr Gershon spent around £150,000 on 18,800 shares at 798p per share, increasing his stake to 60,286 shares. National Grid shares at 791p remain a buy for income having agreed rates with the UK regulator for the next eight years, and recently reached a settlement on 55 per cent of the US rate base. The directors are aiming to increase the 40.9p dividend, yielding over 5 per cent "at least in line with the rate of RPI inflation each year for the foreseeable future".

John Ficenec

Owen’s share price motors up

It’s always a good sign when board members buy a substantial number of shares in the companies they work for - it suggests they're confident that the share price will rise in value and make them a tidy sum of money. That's why investors in swanky car dealership HR Owen (HRO) should be pleased that chairman Jonathan Walden recently boosted his stake by 100,000 shares to 134,000, buying them at 114p a piece, totalling £114,000. The price of HR Owen's shares has accelerated 89 per cent over the past year to 117p, with the lion's share of that growth occurring in the past three months, sparked by better-than expected full-year results at the end of March. Revenue in the year to 31 December 2012 rose 27 per cent, while pre-tax profit soared 26 per cent. Lik

e-for-like new car volumes rose 11 per cent, outperforming the market, while used car volumes increased 5 per cent. What's more, a positive start to the current financial year has prompted Charles Stanley to upgrade its 12-month target price to 130p from 90p. It believes upgrades will materialise should current trends continue. A forward PE ratio of 12 is in line with the sector and while we don't have a current recommendation on the shares, given the potential for further upgrades and positive trading so far this year, they’re certainly worth hanging on to. Hold.

Julia Bradshaw

Buys

Sells

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