Last time we checked in on insider share sale activity at the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the City darling was yet to receive clearance for its purchase of financial data group Refinitiv. With the stock also trading at £79 – then 36 times consensus earnings for 2020 – we suggested that the disposal made by director of information services Waqas Samad was at the very least understandable.
In the five months since, profits may have risen on spiking trading activity, but the Refinitiv deal has been snagged by European competition queries. The FTSE 100 firm also remains priced for perfection at £89.14 per share, which equates to 36 times consensus earnings for 2021, or a price-to-earnings growth ratio of 3.2.
Lucrative share award schemes have also made the intervening period a happy one for the LSE’s top brass. This is true for divisional lieutenants like Mr Samad, who also acts as FTSE Russell chief executive. Since his March sale, he has been granted 54,990 share options, despite only being made a director in January 2019. Even after adjusting for sales to cover taxes, that amounts to a £3.5m bonus at current prices.
As such, one can hardly blame him for top-slicing 8,000 shares at £88.33 each on 21 August, especially after group HR director Tim Jones sold 3,727 of his stock earlier in the month at £85.18.
| Buys | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Ninety One | Hendrik Du Toit/Kim McFarland | 18 Aug 20 | 250,000 | 209.24 | 523,100 | Purchased by PCA |
| Ninety One | Hendrik Du Toit/Kim McFarland | 19 Aug 20 | 175,000 | 209.27 | 366,224 | Purchased by PCA |
| Ninety One | Hendrik Du Toit/Kim McFarland | 19 Aug 20 | 1,276,000 | 209 | 2,666,840 | Purchased by PCA |
| Diversified Gas & Oil | Melanie Little | 19 Aug 20 | 20,000 | 109.85 | 21,970 | |
| Ninety One | Hendrik Du Toit/Kim McFarland | 20 Aug 20 | 472,368 | 208.61 | 985,405 | Purchased by PCA |
| Bank of Georgia | Giorgi Pailodze | 20 Aug 20 | 4,158 | 789 | 32,813 | Average price |
| Fuller, Smith & Turner | James Fuller | 20 Aug 20 | 22,306 | 55.14 | 12,300 | |
| Stobart Group | Clive Condie | 21 Aug 20 | 185,000 | 28.5 | 52,725 | Residual interest of 0.03% |
| John Laing | Ben Loomes (ceo) | 21 Aug 20 | 26,361 | 283 | 74,602 | |
| Begbies Traynor | John May | 21 Aug 20 | 34,940 | 85.84 | 29,992 | |
| Ninety One | Hendrik Du Toit/Kim McFarland | 21 Aug 20 | 155,000 | 217.16 | 336,593 | Purchased by PCA |
| Sells | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| TBC Bank | Nikoloz Kurdiani | 20 Aug 20 | 10,000 | 864 | 86,400 | Average price |
| AO World | Chris Hopkinson | 20 Aug 20 | 75,000 | 200.9 | 150,675 | Sold by PCA |
| London Stock Exchange | Waqas Samad | 21 Aug 20 | 8,000 | 8,833 | 706,658 | |
| Smith & Nephew | Melissa Guerdan | 21 Aug 20 | 5,390 | 1,505 | 81,131 | |
| Bunzl | Andrew Mooney | 24 Aug 20 | 1,000 | 2,479 | 24,790 | Sold by PCA |
| Berkeley | Karl Whiteman | 24 Aug 20 | 12,000 | 4,568 | 548,202 |
