Sabre Insurance (SBRE) chief actuary James Ockenden has sold £473,600 in shares, a few days after the motor insurer released its half-year results and reinstated its 2019 special dividend.
Mr Ockenden’s disposal was equivalent to 0.06 per cent of the company’s issued shares, and he retains 780,000 Sabre shares, or 0.31 per cent of the business. His remaining shares amount to four times his salary. A company spokesperson cited diversification as the motivating factor for his share sale.
The chief actuary also transferred 149,050 shares to his wife Rebecca Ockenden. In June, Sabre announced that Mr Ockenden had transferred 59,050 shares to his wife, but later in the month disclosed that an administrative error prevented this transfer from being completed.
The dealing activity followed a half-year results announcement that returned its special dividend of 5.2p to shareholders alongside a 4.3p half-year dividend. This special payout was deferred at Sabre’s full-year results release in April, as the insurer waited for the dust to settle during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Sabre saw its half-year pre-tax profits drop 9 per cent to £27.8m last month as new business was throttled by lockdown in spring, before a recovery in its written premium in June. Similar gains are expected for July.
Analysts at Peel Hunt forecast full-year 2020 adjusted pre-tax profits and earnings per share of £54m and 17.4p respectively, falling to £50.1m and 16.4p in 2021.
| Buys | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Smith & Nephew | Bob White | 30 Jul 20 | 3,000 | 3,095 | 92,560 | American depositary shares, converted from US$ |
| Vivo Energy | John Daly | 30 Jul 20 | 50,000 | 70.56 | 35,278 | |
| Vivo Energy | Christopher Rogers | 30 Jul 20 | 35,500 | 69.83 | 24,788 | |
| Drax | Will Gardiner (ceo) | 30 Jul 20 | 54,772 | 272.5 | 149,254 | |
| Barclays | Brian Gilway | 30 Jul 20 | 97,309 | 102.26 | 99,508 | |
| Power Metal Resources | Andrew Bell (ch) | 30 Jul 20 | 4,200,000 | 0.906 | 38,052 | |
| Inchcape | Nigel Stein | 30 Jul 20 | 20,000 | 425.6 | 85,120 | |
| Inchcape | Duncan Tait (ceo) | 30 Jul 20 | 11,502 | 432.45 | 49,741 | |
| Mitie | Phillip Bentley | 31 Jul 20 | 1,047,869 | 32.4 | 348,258 | |
| Lloyds | James Lupton | 31 Jul 20 | 1,000,000 | 26.2 | 262,000 | |
| Ultra Electronics | William Rice (ch) | 31 Jul 20 | 5,000 | 2,375 | 118,750 | |
| Banco Santander | Ana Botín (ch) | 31 Jul 20 | 300,000 | 164.84 | 494,520 | Purchased by PCA, converted from € |
| BAE Systems | Roger Carr (ch) | 31 Jul 20 | 40,546 | 493.26 | 199,997 | Purchased by PCA |
| RSA Insurance Group | Clare Bousfield | 31 Jul 20 | 5,732 | 437 | 24,860 | |
| Purplebricks | Adrian Blair | 3 Aug 20 | 97,088 | 51.5 | 50,000 | |
| Sells | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Sabre Insurance Group | James Ockenden | 31 Jul 20 | 160,000 | 296 | 473,600 | |
| London Stock Exchange | Tim Jones | 31 Jul 20 | 3,727 | 8,518 | 317,464 | |
| XP Power | James Peters | 3 Aug 20 | 25,000 | 4,094 | 1,023,541 |
