A host of GVC (GVC) directors have bought shares in the gambling company, months after chief executive Kenneth Alexander made a £13.7m share sale.
Mr Alexander was among six directors who increased their stakes. The chief executive bought £4.9m-worth of shares, saying that his purchase “demonstrates my conviction that GVC’s strategy and long-term outlook will provide shareholders with strong returns....”. Mr Alexander now holds 2.5m shares in the company, including 1m in existing long-term incentive plan (LTIP) awards.
In early March, Mr Alexander sold 2,061,475 shares for £6.66 each, totalling £13.7m. GVC shares fell by over 10 per cent on the day. Within an announcement detailing awards made under the company’s LTIP later that month, Mr Alexander said that he “will not sell any further shares in GVC while I am CEO”. In April, he was quoted in The Times regarding his share sale: “If I knew the reaction was going to be as extreme as it was, then I wouldn’t have sold, but that’s all with hindsight.”
Numis expects adjusted EPS of 63.2p for 2019, rising to 80.8p in 2020.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Boohoo | Pierre Cuilleret | 15 Aug 19 | 100,000 | 224.37 | 224,370 | 211,096 | 0.018 |
| Boohoo | Iain McDonald | 15 Aug 19 | 25,000 | 225.39 | 56,348 | 465,096 | 0.040 |
| Boohoo | Sara Murray | 15 Aug 19 | 100,000 | 226 | 226,000 | 117,921 | 0.010 |
| Boston International * | William James (ch) | 16 Aug 19 | 3,000,000 | 5 | 150,000 | 9,971,428 | 26.136 |
| Carr's | Christopher Holmes (ch) | 19 Aug 19 | 10,000 | 136 | 13,600 | 749,000 | 0.815 |
| Centrica | Iain Conn (ceo) | 19 Aug 19 | 100,000 | 65.17 | 65,170 | 1,641,432 | 0.028 |
| Centrica | Christopher O'Shea (cfo) | 19 Aug 19 | 42,750 | 65.516 | 28,008 | 63,137 | 0.001 |
| Centrica ♥ | Christopher O'Shea (cfo) | 19 Aug 19 | 46,750 | 65.536 | 30,638 | 109,887 | 0.002 |
| Cineworld ♥† | Moshe Greidinger (ceo) | 15 Aug 19 | 1,000,000 | 221.6342 | 2,216,342 | na | 27.990 |
| FirstGroup | Ryan Mangold (cfo) | 15 Aug 19 | 50,000 | 118.4 | 59,200 | 50,000 | 0.004 |
| FirstGroup ♥ | Ryan Mangold (cfo) | 15 Aug 19 | 47,500 | 119.16 | 56,601 | 97,500 | 0.008 |
| Flowtech Fluidpower | Bill Wilson | 15 Aug 19 | 16,870 | 118.9 | 20,058 | 40,895 | 0.067 |
| Future | Penny Ladkin-Brand (cfo) | 16 Aug 19 | 10,050 | 995 | 99,998 | 172,162 | 0.209 |
| Future | Zillah Byng-Thorne (ceo) | 16 Aug 19 | 9,864 | 1,007 | 99,330 | 234,155 | 0.284 |
| GVC | Rob Wood (cfo) | 20 Aug 19 | 18,000 | 578.37 | 104,107 | 244,087 | 0.042 |
| GVC | Jane Anscombe | 21 Aug 19 | 12,000 | 588.17 | 70,580 | 17,169 | 0.003 |
| GVC | Kenneth Alexander (ceo) | 21 Aug 19 | 833,334 | 588.17 | 4,901,421 | 2,522,126 | 0.433 |
| GVC | Peter Isola | 21 Aug 19 | 16,800 | 588.17 | 98,813 | 36,135 | 0.006 |
| GVC | Pierre Bouchut | 21 Aug 19 | 9,000 | 588.17 | 52,935 | 27,000 | 0.005 |
| GVC | Virginia McDowell | 21 Aug 19 | 8,000 | 588.17 | 47,054 | 15,000 | 0.003 |
| Ibstock | Claire Hawkings | 20 Aug 19 | 10,000 | 213.01 | 21,301 | 10,000 | 0.002 |
| KAZ Minerals ♥ | Charles Watson | 15 Aug 19 | 3,246 | 451.9 | 14,669 | 13,790 | 0.003 |
| Lookers ♥ | Tony Bramall | 16 Aug 19 | 2,746,414 | 45.4657 | 1,248,676 | 70,412,825 | 18.090 |
| Lookers ♥ | Tony Bramall | 21 Aug 19 | 1,745,226 | 49.4248 | 862,575 | 72,158,051 | 18.540 |
| Metro Bank ♥ | Vernon Hill (ch) | 16 Aug 19 | 100,000 | 275.206 | 275,206 | 6,121,344 | 3.550 |
| Mondi | Peter Oswald (ceo) | 16 Aug 19 | 5,000 | 1,533.24 | 76,662 | 204,274 | 0.042 |
| Murray International Trust | Kevin Carter (ch) | 15 Aug 19 | 5,000 | 1,120.44 | 56,022 | 50,000 | 0.039 |
| Murray International Trust | David Hardie | 20 Aug 19 | 86 | 1,173 | 1,009 | 13,854 | 0.011 |
| Murray International Trust ♥ | David Hardie | 20 Aug 19 | 53 | 1,173 | 622 | 13,907 | 0.011 |
| MyCelx Technologies | Connie Mixon (ceo) | 16 Aug 19 | 450,000 | 55 | 247,500 | 1,457,703 | 7.497 |
| MyCelx Technologies | Tim Eggar (ch) | 16 Aug 19 | 8,182 | 55 | 4,500 | 140,511 | 0.723 |
| Naked Wines | James Crawford (cfo) | 20 Aug 19 | 15,000 | 266.52 | 39,978 | 128,499 | 0.177 |
| National Grid | Amanda Mesler | 15 Aug 19 | 1,500 | 850.233 | 12,753 | 1,500 | 0.000 |
| nmcn | Michael Holt | 16 Aug 19 | 2,000 | 538.495 | 10,770 | 4,500 | 0.043 |
| Pennant International | John Ponsonby | 15 Aug 19 | 13,655 | 72.5 | 9,900 | 13,655 | 0.038 |
| Renewables Infrastructure Group (The) | Shelagh Mason | 16 Aug 19 | 47,000 | 125.36 | 58,919 | 114,207 | 0.008 |
| RPS | John Douglas (ceo) | 15 Aug 19 | 25,000 | 124.82 | 31,205 | 526,992 | 0.233 |
| Tritax Big Box REIT | Aubrey Adams | 15 Aug 19 | 36,957 | 142.99 | 52,845 | 150,000 | 0.009 |
| Universe | Malcolm Coster | 20 Aug 19 | 318,368 | 4.71 | 14,995 | 1,347,093 | 0.525 |
| Universe | Jeremy Lewis (ceo) | 20 Aug 19 | 265,163 | 4.9 | 12,993 | 532,387 | 0.207 |
| Universe | Andrew Blazye (ch) | 20 Aug 19 | 200,000 | 5.15 | 10,300 | 300,000 | 0.117 |
| Universe | Ivan Brooks | 20 Aug 19 | 50,000 | 5.39 | 2,695 | 50,000 | 0.019 |
| Vela Technologies * | Antony Laiker (ceo) | 19 Aug 19 | 25,000,000 | 0.1 | 25,000 | 60,190,000 | 4.073 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Avast | Erwin Gunst | 21 Aug 19 | 974,728 | 367.2 | 3,579,201 | 1,000,000 | 0.102 |
| Hiscox ♥ | Bronek Masojada (ceo) | 15 Aug 19 | 37,500 | 1,575.34 | 590,753 | 3,036,836 | 1.053 |
| Riverstone Energy ♥†† | Ken Ryan | 16 Aug 19 | 323 | 701.53 | 2,266 | 6,977,424 | 8.733 |
| Riverstone Energy ♥††† | Ken Ryan | 16 Aug 19 | 408 | 701.53 | 2,862 | 6,977,016 | 8.733 |
| Riverstone Energy ♥†† | Ken Ryan | 20 Aug 19 | 24,129 | 640 | 154,426 | 7,002,887 | 8.765 |
| Riverstone Energy ♥††† | Ken Ryan | 20 Aug 19 | 30,519 | 640 | 195,322 | 6,922,368 | 8.664 |
| Young & Co's Brewery | Patrick Dardis (ceo) | 20 Aug 19 | 7,468 | 1,620 | 120,982 | 97,774 | 0.327 |
| *Placing/tender/open offer/right issue ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
| †Current shareholding represents that of Global City Theatres B.V. and its parent company Global City Holdings B.V. Shares in both entities are held in trust for the benefit of the children of Cineworld's CEO and deputy CEO. | |||||||
| ††24,452 shares sold by Riverstone Energy Limited Capital Partners, a person closely associated with three Riverstone directors including Mr Ryan. | |||||||
| †††30,927 shares sold by REL Coinvestment LP, a person closely associated with three Riverstone directors including Mr Ryan. | |||||||
