Genuit Group’s (GEN) shares have almost halved since hitting an all-time high of 806p at the end of August 2021. The company, formerly Polypipe, deals largely in the manufacture of plastic pipes. This means it faces a double whammy in terms of hydrocarbon price hikes, given it uses crude as a feedstock and is also being hit by higher energy prices.
Indeed, its share price seems almost inversely correlated to the price of a barrel of Brent, which has jumped by about 48 per cent since Genuit’s share price peak.
The company said in its results in March that it is offsetting input inflation with “necessary market-leading price increases”.
Its statutory operating margin grew to 11.3 per cent, up from 7.6 per cent a year earlier. And its end markets remain fairly robust. Although the Construction Products Association downgraded its growth forecast for 2022 from 4.3 to 2.8 per cent due to an expected slowdown in the home improvement market, infrastructure spending is set to grow by 8.8 per cent this year and 4.6 per cent next.
Chief executive Joe Vorih is backing himself to continue growing the business, buying £88,000-worth of shares on 28 April. Although this represents a fraction of his £560,000 basic salary, which remuneration committee guidelines suggest should be matched by share ownership worth 200 per cent of this, he seems to be buying in at an attractive price. The company’s shares are trading at 12.6 times FactSet consensus forecast earnings, below their five-year average of 16.4 times.
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Stake size |
| Associated British Foods | Graham Allan | 26 Apr 22 | 1,557 | 62,262 | n/d |
| DP Eurasia | Shyam Bhartia/Hari Bhartia/Pratik Pota * | 22 Apr 22 | 51 | 459,000 | 42.09% |
| GCP Infrastructure Investments | Andrew Didham * | 21 Apr 22 | 116 | 29,999 | 0.01% |
| GCP Infrastructure Investments | Dawn Crichard | 25 Apr 22 | 119 | 25,000 | 0.01% |
| Genuit Group | Joe Vorih (ce) | 28 Apr 22 | 440 | 88,000 | n/d |
| GlaxoSmithKline | Dr Hal Barron (PDMR) | 22 Apr 22 | 3,553 (ADS) † | 40,787 † | n/d |
| Hammerson | Alan Olivier | 26 Apr 22 | 30 | 59,820 | n/d |
| HealthBeacon | Jim Joyce (ce) | 26 Apr 22 | 444 † | 29,304 † | 10.71% |
| Insig AI | Richard Bernstein (ch) | 25 Apr 22 | 28 | 77,413 | 12.46% |
| IQE | Dr Drew Nelson (PDMR) | 27 Apr 22 | 30 | 75,500 | n/d |
| Litigation Capital Management | Jonathan Moulds (ch) | 22 Apr 22 | 105 | 162,626 | 1.66% |
| McBride | Jeffrey Nodland (ch) | 21 Apr 22 | 34 | 34,160 | n/d |
| Mears | Andrew Smith (cfo) | 22 Apr 22 | 199 | 50,633 | 0.20% |
| MJ Gleeson | Fiona Goldsmith | 28 Apr 22 | 602 | 30,100 | 0.02% |
| Oxford Biomedica | Nick Page (coo) | 27 Apr 22 | 545 | 119,362 | 0.02% |
| Quarto | Chuk Kin Lau (PDMR) | 21-25 Apr 22 | 176 | 132,300 | 50.02% |
| Safestyle UK | Rob Neale (cfo) | 25 Apr 22 | 41 | 41,000 | 0.41% |
| Symphony International | Anil Thadani (PDMR) | 26-27 Apr 22 | 42 † | 56,059 † | n/d |
| Tatton Asset Management | Paul Edwards (cfo) | 25 Apr 22 | 430 | 70,537 | 0.87% |
| Tatton Asset Management | Paul Hogarth (ce) | 25 Apr 22 | 430 | 70,537 | 16.41% |
| WH Smith | Andrew Harrison (PDMR) | 27 Apr 22 | 1,430 | 42,913 | n/d |
Sells | |||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Stake size |
| CIP Merchant Capital | Adrian Collins (ch) | 25 Apr 22 | 60 | 30,000 | n/d |
| Elixirr International | Stephen Newton (ce) ** | 28 Apr 22 | 725 | 799,987 | 28.70% |
| Elixirr International | Graham Busby (cfo) ** | 28 Apr 22 | 725 | 399,997 | 3.00% |
| Elixirr International | Gavin Patterson (ch) ** | 28 Apr 22 | 725 | 250,002 | 1.30% |
| Elixirr International | Simon Retter ** | 28 Apr 22 | 725 | 99,999 | 0.80% |
| Elixirr International | Clare Filby (coo) ** | 28 Apr 22 | 725 | 99,999 | 1.10% |
| Elixirr International | Eric Rich (PDMR) ** | 28 Apr 22 | 725 | 199,999 | 1.40% |
| Hilton Food Group | Robert Watson (ch) | 25 Apr 22 | 1,199 | 1,198,882 | n/d |
| *Spouse/Family/Close Associate. ** Placing / Open Offer † Converted from € / $ | |||||
