J Sainsbury’s (SBRY) grand fromage, Justin King, shed 16 per cent of his shareholding in the supermarket chain, selling 248,039 shares on 21 June at 366p, giving him a windfall of £907,823. Since then, the price of the shares pulled back slightly to 359p, and while it’s still up 7 per cent year-to-date, it has fallen 8 per cent since we downgraded the shares to a hold in May at 392p.
The grocer wasn’t able to explain why Mr King ditched his shares, but perhaps he wanted to bank some gains - the share price of J Sainsbury has risen 10 per cent over the past three years, tough trading lies ahead and there are rumours that head-hunters have been hired to replace Mr King in preparation for an eventual departure. If he bought the shares when he joined Sainsbury’s in March 2004, he would have seen a 22 per cent return.
Sainsbury's is still the sector’s front runner and offers a nice dividend yield of 4.8 per cent. Trading on a forward PE ratio of 11 seems fair, but it might be a good time to take some profit.
Julia Bradshaw
Invensys director sells
Invensys (ISYS) has had a busy few months, what with selling its rail division for £1.7bn and returning £625m of this to shareholders through a 76.7p a share dividend. There has also been a share consolidation amounting to four new shares issued for every five held.
The shares have traded very well since our buy tip (323p, 4 Jan 2013), and director David Thomas recently sold 20,504 shares at 403p, although he still holds 300,823 shares. Prior to this, he also sold 22,219 shares to meet tax withholding liabilities on 42,723 shares allocated to him as part of a long-term incentive plan set up in 2010.
Invensys continues to perform strongly, but with the special dividend out of the way next week and the pension deficit resolved, we still see the group as a takeover candidate and reiterate our buy recommendation.
Jonas Crosland
Buys
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Total shares held | Value (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aggreko | David Taylor-Smith | 24 Jun 13 | 6,252 | 1631 | 101,970 | 6,252 | - |
| Alent | Noel Harwerth | 18 May 13 | 1,442 | 339.4 | 4,894 | 1,442 | 0.001 |
| Arcontech | Matthew Jeffs (ceo) | 19 Jun 13 | 7,000,000 | 0.115 | 8,050 | 17,000,000 | 1.11 |
| Aseana Properties | David Harris | 20 Jun 13 | 20,000 | US$0.42 | US$8,400 | 165,000 | 0.08 |
| Aseana Properties | Gerald Ong | 21 Jun 13 | 750,000 | US$0.42 | US$315,000 | 2,250,000 | 1.06 |
| Billington | Steve Fareham | 19 Jun 13 | 2,000 | 59 | 1,180 | 3,000 | 0.023 |
| Chaarat Gold | Linda Naylor (fd) | 25 Jun 13 | 272,000 | 9.75 | 26,520 | 1,000,000 | 0.39 |
| Corac | Phil Cartmell (ceo) | 20 Jun 13 | 200,000 | 11.75 | 23,500 | 1,387,920 | 0.45 |
| Corac | Mark Crawford (cfo) | 20 Jun 13 | 40,040 | 11.25 | 4,505 | 179,529 | 0.06 |
| Darty | Alan Parker (ch) | 24 Jun 13 | 339,000 | 58.5 | 198,315 | 459,000 | 0.08 |
| Darty | Régis Schultz (ceo) | 24 Jun 13 | 339,000 | 58.5 | 198,315 | 339,000 | 0.06 |
| Darty | Carlo D'Asaro Biondo | 24 Jun 13 | 25,000 | 58.5 | 14,625 | 25,000 | 0.0047 |
| Diageo | Ho Kwon Ping | 25 Jun 13 | 4,000 | 1850 | 74,000 | 4,000 | - |
| easyJet | Keith Hamill | 19 Jun 13 | 1,960 | 1294.89 | 25,380 | 1,960 | - |
| easyJet | John Barton | 20 Jun 13 | 13,000 | 1275.02 | 165,753 | 13,000 | 0.0033 |
| Edinburgh Dragon Trust | Allan McKenzie | 21 Jun 13 | 10,000 | 260.7769 | 26,078 | 25,000 | 0.013 |
| Fenner | Nicholas Hobson | 20 Jun 13 | 1,750 | 329.78 | 5,771 | 260,622 | 0.1347 |
| Halfords | Andrew Findlay | 24 Jun 13 | 6,504 | 305.75 | 19,886 | 19,108 | - |
| Hunting | Andrew Szescila | 21 Jun 13 | 5,000 | 752 | 37,600 | 10,000 | - |
| Imagination Technologies | Andrew Heath | 19 Jun 13 | 20,677 | 288 | 59,550 | 20,677 | - |
| Impax Environmental markets | JPHS Scott | 18 Jun 13 | 10,000 | 128.79 | 12,879 | 10,000 | 0.004 |
| Intu Properties | John Whittaker | 24 Jun 13 | 100,000 | 301.81 | 301,810 | 191,797,358 | 19.83 |
| Jupiter Fund Management | Philip Johnson | 20 Jun 13 | 3,972 | 298.07 | 11,839 | 1,508,308 | 0.32954 |
| Laird | Jack Boyer | 21 Jun 13 | 2,000 | 184.685 | 3,694 | 2,000 | 0.0007 |
| Lo-Q | Matt Cooper | 25 Jun 13 | 5,000 | 528 | 26,400 | 22,442 | 0.12 |
| McBride | Chris Bull (ceo) | 18 Jun 13 | 20,000 | 113 | 22,600 | 320,000 | 0.176 |
| Micro Focus | Kevin Loosemore | 25 Jun 13 | 10,000 | 670.4 | 67,040 | 219,534 | 0.147 |
| National Express | Jacqueline Hunt | 24 Jun 13 | 5,000 | 2140.344 | 107,017 | 5,000 | 0.001 |
| Prudential | Alistair Johnston | 24 Jun 13 | 5,000 | 1037 | 51,850 | 10,000 | - |
| Publishing Technology | Alan Moug (cfo) | 19 Jun 13 | 5,000 | 240 | 12,000 | 476,795 | 5.7 |
| Publishing Technology | Alan Moug (cfo) | 20 Jun 13 | 20,000 | 255 | 51,000 | 496,795 | 5.9 |
| Rotork | David Littlejohns | 25 Jun 13 | 500 | 2532 | 12,660 | 6,457 | - |
| SABMiller | JA Manzoni | 25 Jun 13 | 404 | 3039.283 | 12,279 | - | - |
| Schroder AsiaPacific Fund | Rosemary Morgan | 18 Jun 13 | 804 | 247.4 | 1,989 | 1,560 | 0.0009 |
| Scottish Mortgage Inv. Trust | JPHS Scott | 21 Jun 13 | 1,422 | 806 | 11,461 | 45,224 | 0.01813 |
| Somero Enterprises | Jack Cooney (ceo) | 17 Jun 13 | 14,100 | 65.3 | 9,207 | 4,216,302 | 7.47 |
| St Ives | Helen Stevenson | 20 Jun 13 | 3,469 | 141.17 | 4,897 | 3,469 | - |
| St Mark Homes II | Sean Ryan (fd) | 18 Jun 13 | 5,000 | 50 | 2,500 | 60,000 | 2.03 |
| St Mark Homes II | Sean Ryan (fd) | 19 Jun 13 | 5,000 | 65 | 3,250 | 65,000 | 2.2 |
| STV | Margaret Ford | 25 Jun 13 | 4,450 | 138 | 6,141 | 4,450 | 0.011 |
| TalkTalk Telecom | Steve Makin (cfo) | 24 Jun 13 | 20,000 | 220.5 | 44,100 | 20,000 | 0.002 |
| Terra Capital | Filip Montfort | 19 Jun 13 | 100,000 | US$0.71 | US$71,000 | 488,393 | 0.7 |
| Trap Oil | Scott Richardson Brown (fd) | 24 Jun 13 | 270,000 | 10.75 | 29,025 | 550,000 | 0.242 |
| UniVision | Nicholas Lyth | 19 Jun 13 | 750,000 | 0.91 | 6,825 | 750,000 | 0.195 |
| Vislink | John Hawkins (ch) | 20 Jun 13 | 81,983 | 30.25 | 24,800 | 148,683 | 0.13 |
| Vislink | Ian Davies (fd) | 20 Jun 13 | 100,000 | 29.75 | 29,750 | 100,000 | 0.09 |
Sells
| Company | Director | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Total shares held | Value (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance Pharma | John Dawson (ceo) | 21 Jun 13 | 460,000 | 35 | 161,000 | 39,576,402 | 15.75 |
| Bankers Petroleum | Robert Cross (ch) | 18 Jun 13 | 250,000 | Can$2.9 | Can$725,000 | 2,256,466 | - |
| Bankers Petroleum | Robert Cross (ch) | 19 Jun 13 | 250,000 | Can$2.95 | Can$737,500 | 2,006,466 | - |
| BlackRock Latin American Inv Trust | Laurence Whitehead | 21 Jun 13 | 4,000 | 449 | 17,960 | 12,967 | 0.03 |
| Catlin | Paul Jardine | 18 Jun 13 | 150,070 | 481 | 721,837 | 274,533 | 0.07 |
| EastCoal Inc | John Conlon | 14 Jun 13 | 5,000,000 | US$0.02 | US$100,000 | 25,161,794 | - |
| Hikma Pharmaceutical | Mazen Darwazah | 18 Jun 13 | 70,000 | 990 | 693,000 | 738,225 | 0.37 |
| Imperial Tobacco | Arthur van Benthem | 20 Jun 13 | 13,130 | 2,334 | 306,454 | - | - |
| Invensys | David Thomas | 21 Jun 13 | 20,504 | 403 | 82,577 | 300,823 | 0.045944 |
| LMS Capital | Bernard Duroc-Danner | 19 Jun 13 | 20,639 | 75 | 15,479 | 426,931 | 0.19 |
| Sainsbury, J | Justin King | 21 Jun 13 | 248,039 | 366 | 907,823 | 1,278,811 | - |
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
