There are worse times to retire than when your company’s stock reaches a six-year high. That may be the rationale for Sarah and Stephen Thompson, founder-directors of media-analytics business Ebiquity (EBQ), who resigned from the AIM-listed company’s board this month and cashed in most of their shares.
On March 6, the couple exercised their stock options to buy 146,000 shares. Mrs. Thompson then sold 7.6m shares at Ebiquity’s current share price of 120p, generating £9.1m. Mr. Thompson also sold 1,000 shares at the same price, leaving them with about 146,000 shares each.
The couple's exit from the business, which they founded in 1997 as Thompson Intermedia and listed in 2000, came one day after operations chief Paul Adams, a 16-year veteran of the company, announced his retirement this month. The departure of senior management is rarely heartening for investors, but Ebiquity looks well-placed to perform - its sales and underlying operating profits rose 7 and 26 per cent respectively in the half-year to 31 Oct, to £33m and £4m. One concern may be its market-intelligence business, where sales slumped 6 per cent to £14m as the division retained fewer clients and struggled to sign new contracts.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| AGA Rangemaster | William McGrath (ce) | 07 Mar 14 | 19,400 | 180.3 | 34,978 | 241,286 | 0.348 |
| AGA Rangemaster | Shaun Smith (fd) | 07 Mar 14 | 11,100 | 180.3 | 20,013 | 167,997 | 0.243 |
| Ferrex | David Reeves | 12 Mar 14 | 4,839,685 | 1.75 | 84,694 | 117,327,876 | 13.946 |
| G4S | Himanshu Raja (cfo) | 12 Mar 14 | 50,000 | 233.00 | 116,502 | 50,000 | 0.003 |
| Goldplat | Brian Moritz (ch) | 10 Mar 14 | 500,000 | 6 | 30,000 | 2,550,000 | 1.523 |
| Inmarsat | John Rennocks | 10 Mar 14 | 1,557 | 685 | 10,665 | 44,883 | 0.010 |
| Intertek | Dr Mark Williams | 10 Mar 14 | 2,000 | 3,043.1 | 60,861 | 2,000 | 0.001 |
| IXICO | T Sharpington | 11 Mar 14 | 12,750 | 78.5 | 10,009 | 15,150 | 0.101 |
| IXICO | Dr Andy Richards (ch) | 11 Mar 14 | 13,700 | 78 | 10,686 | 30,200 | 0.202 |
| Kerry | Philip Toomey | 12 Mar 14 | 1,000 | 5,658.10 | 56,581 | 1,000 | 0.001 |
| Laird | Dr Martin Read | 07 Mar 14 | 16,082 | 309.3 | 49,737 | 16,082 | 0.006 |
| Legal & General | Julia Wilson | 11 Mar 14 | 4,914 | 233.08 | 11,454 | 29,523 | <0.000 |
| Melrose Industries | John Grant | 06 Mar 14 | 46,125 | 300.5 | 138,606 | 296,431 | 0.028 |
| Melrose Industries | Christopher Miller (ch) | 06 Mar 14 | 295,534 | 300.5 | 888,109 | 14,934,285 | 1.393 |
| MS International | Nicholas Bell | 11 Mar 14 | 32,090 | 192 | 61,613 | 100,000 | 0.597 |
| Northern Investors Company | JC Barnsley | 07 Mar 14 | 12,500 | 410 | 51,250 | 70,078 | 0.803 |
| Ocado | Alex Mahon | 06 Mar 14 | 5,087 | 570 | 28,996 | 7,087 | 0.001 |
| Porta Communications * | EG Golembiewski (fd) | 12 Mar 14 | 769,230 | 13 | 100,000 | 769,230 | 0.356 |
| Pressure Technologies * | NA MacDonald | 06 Mar 14 | 5,200 | 575 | 29,900 | 5,200 | 0.036 |
| Reed Elsevier | Adrian Hennah | 10 Mar 14 | 5,345 | 930.5 | 49,735 | 10,508 | 0.001 |
| Sage Group (The) | Drummond Hall | 07 Mar 14 | 10,000 | 424.28 | 42,428 | 10,000 | 0.001 |
| Shaftesbury * | Jill C Little | 11 Mar 14 | 3,225 | 620 | 19,995 | 5,367 | 0.002 |
| Shaftesbury * | Hilary S Riva | 11 Mar 14 | 4,032 | 620 | 24,998 | 10,482 | 0.004 |
| Shaftesbury * | SJ Quayle | 11 Mar 14 | 10,000 | 620 | 62,000 | 873,533 | 0.314 |
| Shaftesbury * | B Bickell (ce) | 11 Mar 14 | 20,000 | 620 | 124,000 | 924,188 | 0.333 |
| Shaftesbury * | JS Lane (ch) | 11 Mar 14 | 10,000 | 620 | 62,000 | 1,075,000 | 0.387 |
| Shaftesbury * | CPA Ward (fd) | 11 Mar 14 | 1,613 | 620 | 10,001 | 8,724 | 0.003 |
| Sirius Minerals * | KEF Clarke | 11 Mar 14 | 416,666 | 12 | 50,000 | 416,666 | 0.022 |
| Sirius Minerals * ♥ | JH Murray (cfo) | 11 Mar 14 | 541,666 | 12 | 65,000 | 2,708,333 | 0.145 |
| Sirius Minerals * ♥ | RJ Scrimshaw (ch) | 11 Mar 14 | 1,666,666 | 12 | 200,000 | 37,319,218 | 2.003 |
| Standard Chartered | N Kheraj | 06 Mar 14 | 2,000 | 1,238.5 | 24,770 | 2,000 | <0.000 |
| Standard Chartered | J Paynter | 10 Mar 14 | 2,500 | 1,246.5 | 31,163 | 12,500 | 0.001 |
| Stobart | Ben Whawell (cfo) | 07 Mar 14 | 39,485 | 126.6 | 49,996 | 183,576 | 0.052 |
| Stobart | Iain Ferguson (ch) | 07 Mar 14 | 40,000 | 132.2 | 52,880 | 140,000 | 0.040 |
| Tungsten Corporation | Edi Truell | 07 Mar 14 | 9,400 | 279 | 26,226 | 14,762,684 | 14.763 |
| UDG Healthcare | Lisa Ricciardi | 06 Mar 14 | 16,000 | 369.5 | 59,112 | 16,000 | 0.007 |
| Unilever | P Polman (ce) | 12 Mar 14 | 2,113 | 2,374 | 50,163 | 270,988 | 0.021 |
| Vitesse Media * | DG Stewart | 07 Mar 14 | 1,059,488 | 2.2 | 23,309 | 5,000,000 | 9.996 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Advanced Medical Solutions | Chris Meredith (ce) | 06 Mar 14 | 47,056 | 114 | 53,644 | 1,095,219 | 0.529 |
| APR Energy | John Campion (ce) | 10 Mar 14 | 24,467 | 950 | 232,437 | 6,976,118 | 7.402 |
| Arden Partners | Jonathan Keeling | 07 Mar 14 | 25,000 | 98.5 | 24,625 | 2,459,334 | 10.980 |
| CML Microsystems ♥ | Nigel Clark (fd & cs) | 12 Mar 14 | 57,500 | 575 | 330,625 | 4,600 | 0.029 |
| Ebiquity | Sarah J Thomson | 07 Mar 14 | 7,603,787 | 120 | 9,124,544 | 145,921 | 0.194 |
| Gooch & Housego | Paul Heal | 10 Mar 14 | 4,400 | 712.682 | 31,358 | 17,085 | 0.074 |
| Mondi | Peter Oswald | 06 Mar 14 | 1,361 | 1,105 | 15,039 | 112,756 | 0.031 |
| Mondi | Peter Oswald | 06 Mar 14 | 28,639 | 1,104 | 316,175 | 114,117 | 0.031 |
| Moneysupermarket.com | Paul Doughty (cfo) | 07 Mar 14 | 250,000 | 192.6 | 481,500 | 215,501 | 0.040 |
| Moneysupermarket.com ♥ | Graham Donoghue | 07 Mar 14 | 150,140 | 192.7 | 289,320 | 300,000 | 0.055 |
| Origin Enterprises | Brendan Fitzgerald (cfo) | 11 Mar 14 | 50,000 | 630 | 315,000 | 557,321 | 0.441 |
| Origin Enterprises | Brendan Fitzgerald (cfo) | 06 Mar 14 | 80,000 | 617 | 493,600 | 607,321 | 0.481 |
| Restaurant Group (The) | Simon Cloke | 11 Mar 14 | 8,000 | 675 | 54,000 | 7,000 | 0.003 |
| Shire | Matthew Emmens (ch) | 07 Mar 14 | 36,375 | 3,283.1 | 1,194,224 | 38,015 | 0.006 |
| William Hill | Ralph Topping (ce) | 06 Mar 14 | 725,000 | 387.5 | 2,809,158 | 15,210 | 0.002 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party | |||||||
