It has been a while since we've taken a look at healthcare company EKF Diagnostics (EKF), but now seems to be a good time to revisit the story. Fund manager Hardwood Capital - a firm at which EFK chairman Christopher Mills is a partner and chief investment officer - has recently bought a total of 5m shares for just over £500,000 on behalf of North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust (NAIT), in which the chairman also holds shares. Further investments by NAIT have taken Mr Mills' indirect stake in EKF up to 24.8 per cent at last count.
IC TIP:
Hold
at
12p
The past few years haven't been plain sailing for the company, evident in recent financial results, which reported a fall in revenue and profits as recent acquisitions failed to take off. However, management has decided to simplify the business once again, and focus on its core diagnostic products. The group recently tapped investors for an additional £4.5m to get the balance sheet back on track, too - a fundraising NAIT also bought into.
| Buys | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Cambian | Graham Rich | 22 Jun 16 | 30,000 | 67.125 | 20,138 | 36,000 | 0.020 |
| Cambian | Michael Butterworth | 17 Jun 16 | 45,000 | 64.75 | 29,138 | 45,000 | 0.024 |
| Chemring | Carl-Peter Forster | 21 Jun 16 | 20,000 | 118.69 | 23,738 | 20,000 | 0.007 |
| Chemring | Daniel Dayan | 21 Jun 16 | 60,500 | 115 | 69,575 | 60,500 | 0.022 |
| Cobham | Robert Murphy (ceo) | 16 Jun 16 | 7,500 | 138 | 10,350 | 513,666 | 0.030 |
| Computacenter | Greg Lock (ch) | 16 Jun 16 | 26,000 | 780.5 | 202,800 | 504,600 | 0.411 |
| EKF Diagnostics Holdings | Christopher Mills (ch) | 17 Jun 16 | 532,781 | 11.5 | 58,606 | 105,928,103 | 22.816 |
| EKF Diagnostics Holdings♥ | Christopher Mills (ch) | 21 Jun 16 | 4,500,000 | 11.75 | 528,750 | 110,428,103 | 23.786 |
| Empiric Student Property | Paul Hadaway (ceo) | 16 Jun 16 | 43,515 | 105 | 45,691 | 1,293,801 | 0.258 |
| Empiric Student Property | Paul Hadaway (ceo) | 17 Jun 16 | 47,000 | 105.25 | 49,468 | 1,340,801 | 0.267 |
| Europa Oil & Gas | Hugh Mackay (ceo) | 17 Jun 16 | 250,327 | 3.99 | 9,988 | 3,084,716 | 1.260 |
| Finsbury Growth & Income Trust♥ | Vanessa Renwick | 17 Jun 16 | 5,278 | 569.2 | 30,042 | 47,935 | 0.035 |
| Greatland Gold♥ | Paul Johnson | 21 Jun 16 | 2,500,000 | 0.277 | 6,925 | 89,000,000 | 5.993 |
| Gresham Computing♥ | Max Royde | 17 Jun 16 | 40,000 | 98 | 39,200 | 7,107,664 | 11.189 |
| Harworth | Andrew Kirkman (fd) | 22 Jun 16 | 50,000 | 92.15 | 46,075 | 50,000 | 0.017 |
| Harworth | Owen Michaelson (ceo) | 22 Jun 16 | 15,000 | 91.9 | 13,785 | 107,068 | 0.037 |
| Hogg Robinson | Paul Williams | 17 Jun 16 | 25,000 | 67 | 16,750 | 160,000 | 0.049 |
| Hummingbird Resources* | David Pelham | 22 Jun 16 | 22,727 | 22 | 5,000 | 25,052 | 0.008 |
| Hummingbird Resources* | Daniel Betts (ceo) | 22 Jun 16 | 315,000 | 22 | 69,300 | 4,949,149 | 1.490 |
| Hummingbird Resources* | Thomas Hill (fd) | 22 Jun 16 | 40,000 | 22 | 8,800 | 148,235 | 0.045 |
| Huntsworth | Neil Jones (cfo) | 20 Jun 16 | 30,000 | 39.62 | 11,886 | 130,000 | 0.040 |
| Huntsworth | Neil Jones (cfo) | 22 Jun 16 | 65,000 | 40.4 | 26,260 | 195,000 | 0.059 |
| LXB Retail Properties | David Kitchen | 22 Jun 16 | 60,984 | 67 | 40,859 | 622,927 | 0.370 |
| LXB Retail Properties | Steve Webb | 20 Jun 16 | 75,661 | 66 | 49,936 | 319,046 | 0.190 |
| Liontrust Asset Management | George Yeandle | 16 Jun 16 | 10,000 | 284 | 28,400 | 20,000 | 0.044 |
| Lowland Investment Co | Robert Robertson | 16 Jun 16 | 5,000 | 1178 | 58,900 | 56,225 | 0.208 |
| Metro Bank | Vernon Hill (ch) | 16 Jun 16 | 29,721 | 2000 | 594,420 | 4,749,220 | 5.915 |
| National Express | Ashley Steel | 20 Jun 16 | 9,528 | 312.5 | 29,775 | 9,528 | 0.002 |
| Old Mutual | Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita | 17 Jun 16 | 9,351 | 174.4304 | 16,311 | 23,190 | 0.000 |
| Palace Capital | Anthony Dove | 22 Jun 16 | 2,000 | 363.75 | 7,275 | 80,000 | 0.312 |
| Paysafe | Andrew Dark | 22 Jun 16 | 10,363 | 385.85 | 39,986 | 10,363 | 0.002 |
| Paysafe♥ | Brahm Gelfand | 16 Jun 16 | 2,500 | 369.7 | 9,243 | 14,500 | 0.003 |
| Saga♥ | Lance Batchelor (ce) | 20 Jun 16 | 7,241 | 209.3 | 15,155 | 39,154 | 0.004 |
| Saga | Lance Batchelor (ce) | 20 Jun 16 | 16,521 | 209.3 | 34,578 | 31,913 | 0.003 |
| Saga | Lance Batchelor (ce) | 21 Jun 16 | 7,241 | 209.3 | 15,155 | 46,395 | 0.004 |
| Saga♥ | Lance Batchelor (ce) | 21 Jun 16 | 16,521 | 209.3 | 34,578 | 62,916 | 0.006 |
| Sopheon | Arif Karimjee (fd) | 16 Jun 16 | 1,666 | 129.9 | 2,164 | 50,000 | 0.686 |
| Sopheon | Barry Mence (ch) | 16 Jun 16 | 6,334 | 130 | 8,234 | 1,447,576 | 19.867 |
| Sopheon | Stuart Silcock | 16 Jun 16 | 2,000 | 130 | 2,600 | 278,627 | 3.824 |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering | Kevin Boyd (fd) | 20 Jun 16 | 484 | 3467.74 | 16,784 | 484 | 0.001 |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering | Kevin Boyd (fd) | 20 Jun 16 | 516 | 3467.02 | 17,890 | 1,000 | 0.001 |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering | Nicholas Anderson (ceo) | 20 Jun 16 | 1,000 | 3461.877 | 34,619 | 16,443 | 0.022 |
| Stilo International | David Ashman (ch) | 17 Jun 16 | 200,000 | 5.625 | 11,250 | 20,402,000 | 18.150 |
| Stilo International | David Ashman (ch) | 20 Jun 16 | 300,000 | 5.75 | 17,250 | 20,702,000 | 18.417 |
| Stilo International | David Ashman (ch) | 21 Jun 16 | 200,000 | 5.85 | 11,700 | 20,902,000 | 18.595 |
| TP Group | Derren Stroud (cfo) | 21 Jun 16 | 50,000 | 3.825 | 1,913 | 500,000 | 0.118 |
| TP Group | Derren Stroud (cfo) | 21 Jun 16 | 56,780 | 3.825 | 2,172 | 450,000 | 0.107 |
| TP Group | Derren Stroud (cfo) | 21 Jun 16 | 93,220 | 3.85 | 3,589 | 393,220 | 0.093 |
| TP Group | Phil Cartmell (ceo) | 20 Jun 16 | 424,000 | 3.375 | 14,310 | 2,520,720 | 0.597 |
| TP Group | Simon Kings | 20 Jun 16 | 150,000 | 3.46 | 5,190 | 1,150,000 | 0.272 |
| Touchstar | Ian Martin (ch) | 21 Jun 16 | 84,750 | 60 | 50,850 | 275,250 | 4.363 |
| U&I♥ | Matthew Weiner (ceo) | 20 Jun 16 | 20,985 | 185 | 38,822 | 247,337 | 0.198 |
| Whitbread | Chris Kennedy | 22 Jun 16 | 1,500 | 4098.45 | 61,477 | 1,500 | 0.001 |
| Sells | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| DekelOil* | Yehoshua Shai Kol (cfo) | 17 Jun 16 | 26,415,000 | 1.325 | 349,999 | 10,649,174 | 4.299 |
| Derwent London | J D Burns (ceo) | 22 Jun 16 | 45,000 | 3307.5 | 1,488,375 | 653,847 | 0.587 |
| MP Evans | J D Shaw | 17 Jun 16 | 5,000 | 410 | 20,500 | 348,065 | 0.624 |
| Wetherspoon (J D) | John Hutson (ceo) | 20 Jun 16 | 2,500 | 733 | 18,325 | 73,315 | 0.064 |
| Young & Co's Brewery | Peter Whitehead (fd) | 20 Jun 16 | 20,391 | 1201 | 244,896 | 91,071 | 0.307 |
| Young & Co's Brewery | Stephen Goodyear (ceo) | 20 Jun 16 | 15,000 | 1201 | 180,150 | 212,281 | 0.716 |
| Young & Co's Brewery | Torquil Sligo-Young | 20 Jun 16 | 2,500 | 1201 | 30,025 | 472,994 | 1.596 |
| Young & Co's Brewery♥ | Torquil Sligo-Young | 20 Jun 16 | 8,000 | 1201 | 96,080 | 464,994 | 1.569 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party | |||||||
