Activist hedge fund Browning West has raised its stake in Domino’s Pizza (DOM) once more, just days before the company announced a job hiring spree ahead of its busiest period of the year. The fund bought around 1.98m shares this month, at an aggregate value of £6.9m. Browning West’s founder and chief investment officer, Usman Nabi, is also a Domino’s non-executive director.
The hiring plans suggest the group isn't deterred by a gloomy outlook for the hospitality and leisure sector and the threat of falling consumer spending. Domino’s announced this week that it has created 5,000 new roles, including chefs, delivery drivers and customer service personnel, and is offering 1,000 work placements for young people in England, Scotland and Wales as part of the government’s ‘Kickstarters’ scheme. All this is on top of 6,000 newly-created roles since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The pizza group’s stores stayed open during lockdown, although collections from outlets were temporarily suspended.
The extra personnel will be required to support Domino’s through a typically busy late-year period, on top of a recent surge in trading. Delivery orders rose by more than a fifth during the group's second quarter, which helped to offset rising costs linked to Covid-19. These are expected to reduce from £6.2m in the company’s first half to £2m for the second, as lockdown restrictions ease.
Browning West’s holding in Domino’s stood at 9.58 per cent as of 15 September, having also topped up its stake in March.
| Buys | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Aviva | Amanda Blanc (ceo) | 11 Sep 20 | 324,887 | 307.8 | 1,000,002 | First purchase |
| Cairn Homes | Michael Stanley (ceo) | 14 Sep 20 | 500,000 | 72.3 | 361,667 | Shares priced in Euros (£1 = €1.08) |
| Cairn Homes | Alan McIntosh | 14 Sep 20 | 500,000 | 72.3 | 361,667 | Shares priced in Euros (£1 = €1.08) |
| Concurrent Technologies | Mark Cubitt (ch) | 11 Sep 20 | 20,000 | 110 | 22,000 | Now holds 0.03% of company |
| Domino's Pizza | Usman Nabi | 11 Sep 20 | 432,596 | 352.5 | 1,524,754 | Average price, purchased by PCA. |
| Domino's Pizza | Usman Nabi | 10 Sep 20 | 681,351 | 352.0 | 2,398,341 | Average price, purchased by PCA. |
| Domino's Pizza | Usman Nabi | 9 Sep 20 | 861,840 | 348.2 | 3,001,023 | Average price, purchased by PCA. |
| Immedia | Matt Horrocks | 15 Sep 20 | 2,000,000 | 10 | 200,000 | Subscription, includes purchases by PCA. |
| London Stock Exchange | Val Rahmani | 11 Sep 20 | 300 | 9065.7 | 27,197 | Purchased by PCA |
| McBride | Chris Smith (ceo) | 9 Sep 20 | 39,682 | 63 | 25,000 | |
| McBride | Jeff Nodland (ch) | 10 Sep 20 | 90,000 | 62.25 | 56,025 | |
| Ninety One | Hendrik du Toit/Kim McFarland | 10 Sep 20 | 938,518 | 212.4 | 1,993,108 | Purchased by PCA |
| Ninety One | Hendrik du Toit/Kim McFarland | 11 Sep 20 | 907,000 | 213.9 | 1,940,364 | Purchased by PCA |
| Ninety One | Hendrik du Toit/Kim McFarland | 14 Sep 20 | 1,000,000 | 213.5 | 2,135,169 | Purchased by PCA |
| Phoenix Spree Deutschland | Quentin Spicer | 15 Sep 20 | 8,000 | 315.9 | 25,272 | |
| Photo-Me International | Serge Crasnianski (ceo) | 11 Sep 20 | 384,818 | 49.94 | 192,178 | Purchased by PCA |
| Resolute Mining | John Welborn (ceo) | 10 Sep 20 | 103,125 | 56.0 | 57,751 | Shares priced in AUD (£1 = A$1.75) |
| Senior | Andrew Bodenham | 11 Sep 20 | 50,000 | 49.7 | 24,835 | |
| SimplyBiz | Neil Stevens (ceo) | 15 Sep 20 | 25,000 | 156.1 | 39,025 | Part of group purchase by directors. |
| Uniphar | Paul Hogan | 9 Sep 20 | 25,002 | 231.5 | 57,875 | Shares priced in Euros (£1 = €1.08) |
| Wm Morrison Supermarkets | Jeremy Townsend | 10 Sep 20 | 25,000 | 187.2 | 46,800 | |
| Wm Morrison Supermarkets | Lyssa McGowan | 12 Sep 20 | 20,000 | 180.8 | 36,151 |
| Sells | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Belvoir Group | Ian Maclean | 11 Sep 20 | 20,000 | 158.3552 | 31,671 | Immediate sale of exercised options. |
| Computacenter | Michael John Norris (ceo) | 10 Sep 20 | 100,000 | 2369.2 | 2,369,200 | Residual interest: 0.98% (including PCA holdings) |
| IntegraFin | Christopher Munro | 11 Sep 20 | 50,000 | 511 | 255,500 | |
| IntegraFin | Christopher Munro | 13 Sep 20 | 100,000 | 506.25 | 506,250 | |
| Sirius Real Estate | Alistair Marks (cfo) | 14 Sep 20 | 6,032,000 | 74.3 | 4,481,776 | Encumbrance of shares in exchange for €1.75m personal rolling credit facility |
| TBC Group | Giorgi Shagidze | 14 Sep 20 | 23,000 | 960 | 220,800 | |
| Uniphar | Padraic Staunton | 9 & 10 Sep 20 | 333,334 | 232.66 | 775,526 | Shares priced in Euros (£1 = €1.08) |
