Philip Meeson, who has built Jet2 (JET2) into a significant player in the low-cost air travel market, has cashed out some of his investment in the airline he first bought into nearly 40 years ago. At that time, Express Air Services was a freight business ferrying fresh flowers, mail and other cargo from the Channel Islands into a series of UK airports. Meeson went on to float the company in 1991, but it didn’t begin carrying passengers until Jet2.com was launched in 2003.
The company has experienced some turbulence since, not least during the pandemic when it suffered a loss of more than £600mn over a 24-month period. However, it is now more bullish about its prospects, recently adding an order for 35 new aircraft from Airbus.
The airline’s interim results last month were strong enough to revive the shares. After more than halving from a peak of £14.34 in February to £6.39 in mid-October, they crept back above £10 a share as the company reported a £451mn pre-tax profit on the back of an eightfold hike in revenue to £3.57bn. Meeson, and a trust associated with him, sold more than £42mn-worth of shares between 24 November and 1 December (the first half of the sale was reported in last week’s IC). The sales were made to “diversify his investment portfolio”. No further disposals are planned in the immediate future. Big share sales by Meeson are not that unusual – he sold around £22.5mn-worth of shares this time last year. He retains an 18.3 per cent stake.
| Buys | ||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) |
| Alien Metals | Rod McIllree (ch) | 28 Nov 22 | 0.3 | 154,000 |
| Alien Metals | Troy Whittaker | 28 Nov 22 | 0.3 | 35,000 |
| Alien Metals | Lloyd Edmunds | 28 Nov 22 | 0.3 | 35,000 |
| Georgia Capital | David Morrison | 23-25 Nov 22 | 756 | 264,477 |
| Hiscox | Aki Hussain (ce) | 25 Nov 22 | 1,004 | 100,400 |
| Hostmore | Stephen Welker | 28 Nov 22 | 13 | 52,417 |
| Intercede | Royston Hoggarth (ch) | 01 Dec 22 | 51 | 25,450 |
| Litigation Capital Management | Jonathan Moulds (ch) | 25 Nov 22 | 70 | 260,700 |
| Lloyds | Catherine Turner | 30 Nov 22 | 47 | 198,994 |
| LXI Reit | Simon Lee | 29 Nov 22 | 118 | 100,000 |
| Marlowe | Charles Skinner | 30 Nov 22 | 500 | 100,000 |
| Marlowe | Adam Councell (cfo) | 01 Dec 22 | 503 | 31,035 |
| Origin Enterprises | Sean Coyle (ce) | 28 Nov 22 | 323 † | 35,783 † |
| Pressure Technologies | Nicholas Salmon (ch) ** | 02-Dec-22 | 30 | 30,000 |
| Real Estate Investors | Paul Bassi (ce) | 01 Dec 22 | 28 | 1,058,541 |
| Real Estate Investors | Marcus Daly (cfo) | 01 Dec 22 | 28 | 280,000 |
| Shearwater | Phil Higgins (ceo) * | 29-30 Nov 22 | 95 | 96,580 |
| WH Smith | Marion Sears | 28 Nov 22 | 1,399 | 20,981 |
| Windar Photonics | Jørgen Korsgaard Jensen (ce) ** | 29 Nov 22 | 15 | 100,000 |
| Windar Photonics | Johan Blach Petersen ** | 29 Nov 22 | 15 | 62,000 |
| Windar Photonics | Paul Hodges ** | 29 Nov 22 | 15 | 98,130 |
| Sells | ||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) |
| Britvic | Paul Graham | 24 Nov 22 | 787 | 117,975 |
| Burberry | Julie Brown (cfo / coo) | 30 Nov 22 | 2,150 | 344,000 |
| Georgia Capital | Giorgi Alpaidze (cfo) | 30 Nov 22 | 755 | 302,000 |
| James Cropper | Mark Cropper (ch) * | 01 Dec 22 | 910 | 300,000 |
| Jet2 | Philip Meeson (ch) | 30 Nov-01 Dec | 994 | 19,882,125 |
| Keystone Law Group | William Robins | 25 Nov 22 | 433 | 259,800 |
| Reach | Simon Fuller (cfo) | 25 Nov 22 | 118 | 55,442 |
| Serco | Rupert Soames (ce) | 24 Nov 22 | 170 | 3,197,737 |
| Smurfit Kappa | James Lawrence | 28-30 Nov 22 | 2,999 † | 4,198,129 † |
| *Spouse/Family/Close Associate. ** placing / open offer † Converted from € / $ | ||||
