- Purchases come as the interdealer broker seeks investor support for an expensive acquisition.
- Chief executive and chairman "wanted to take the opportunity to increase their stakes".
Investors in TP ICAP (TCAP) are having another rough year. After a resilient first half, the interdealer broker surprised the market in August when it warned activity had slowed materially. The response to this sudden malaise – the acquisition of trading firm Liquidnet for up to $700m (£538m) – requires a $425m rights issue. In less than three months, the share price has dropped by more than a third.
Amid waning confidence, chairman Richard Berliand and chief executive Nicolas Breteau this week stepped into the fray and bought shares worth £57,330 and £23,000, respectively.
Should investors now feel reassured? First off, neither amount is especially large for the world of FTSE 250 c-suites. Mr Breteau’s purchase, for example, is equal to 3.5 per cent of his 2019 fixed remuneration, a figure which excludes a further £1.5m in deferred and short-term variable pay.
The timing of the trades is also puzzling, as all executive directors have already agreed to participate in the upcoming rights issue. Fresh share purchases by both men is presumably imminent. But as it turns out, Mr Berliand and Mr Breteau directly owned just 50,000 and 15,000 shares before these purchases, though the latter can point to his interest in 548,042 shares under a long-term incentive plan and the 237,193 unvested shares he was entitled to at the end of 2019.
So how much of their own money can we expect the pair to commit to the rights issue? Terms are yet to be published, although a two-for-seven offer might cover it at the current price. With a holding of 100,000 shares, the directors would together only need to cough up around £63,000 more to meet their participation pledge.
Mr Breteau has pinned hopes on a company whose enterprise value is priced at up to 11 times adjusted Ebitda, more than twice TP ICAP’s current valuation. With so much at stake, he might have put more skin in the game. Ahead of terms, we move our earlier buy call (405p, 23 Jan 2020) to hold at 220p.
Last IC view: Buy, 295p, 7 Aug 2020
| Buys | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Admiral Group | Geraint Jones (cfo) | 5 Oct 20 | 193 | 2,692 | 5,196 | |
| Anglo American | Marcelo Bastos | 10 Oct 20 | 500 | 1,859.4 | 9,297 | |
| Harworth | Katerina Patmore (cfo) | 8 Oct 20 | 11,212 | 89.2 | 10,001 | |
| Harworth | Lynda Shillaw (ce - elect) | 12 Oct 20 | 52,545 | 95 | 49,760 | |
| Headlam Group | Philip Lawrence | 8 Oct 20 | 11,184 | 266.7 | 29,822 | |
| Hunting | Bruce Ferguson (fd) | 6 Oct 20 | 14,000 | 122.6 | 17,164 | Holding 101,835 shares |
| Hunting | Jim Johnson (ce) | 6 Oct 20 | 50,000 | 122 | 61,000 | Holding 367,629 shares |
| Kromek | Rakesh Sharma | 8 Oct 20 | 178,454 | 11.2 | 19,987 | Holding 1,611,473 shares (1.88 per cent) |
| Naked Wines | Nicholas Devlin (ce) | 9 Oct 20 | 8,250 | 420 | 34,650 | |
| Naked Wines | Nicholas Devlin (ce) | 12 Oct 20 | 2,030 | 438.8 | 8,907 | Holding 65,480 shares (0.09 per cent) |
| Next Fifteen Communications | Richard Eyre (ch) | 9 Oct 20 | 5,000 | 492.1 | 24,606 | Holding 20,000 shares (0.13 per cent) |
| Power Metal Resources | Ed Shaw | 9 Oct 20 | 1,000,000 | 1.3 | 12,985 | |
| Power Metal Resources | Paul Johnson (ce) | 9 Oct 20 | 1,000,000 | 1.3 | 13,010 | SIPP - Holding 59,000,000 shares (7.21 per cent) |
| Quixant | Jon Jayal (ce) | 12 Oct 20 | 4,191 | 119 | 4,987 | |
| Quixant | Jon Jayal (ce) | 12 Oct 20 | 4,156 | 120 | 4,987 | Holding 383,547 shares |
| River and Mercantile | James Barham (ce) | 8 Oct 20 | 12,900 | 152.4 | 19,665 | Holding 178,454 shares (0.05 per cent) |
| River and Mercantile | Simon Wilson (cfo) | 8 Oct 20 | 6,314 | 157.4 | 9,938 | |
| Rolls-Royce | George Culmer | 9 Oct 20 | 8,760 | 227 | 19,885 | |
| Silence Therapeutics | Iain Ross (ch) | 9 Oct 20 | 9,750 | 410 | 39,975 | SIPP - Holding 54,443 (0.07 per cent) |
| Silence Therapeutics | David Lemus | 9 Oct 20 | 1,250 | 400 | 5,000 | Holding 6,876 shares (0.01 per cent) |
| Silence Therapeutics | James Ede-Golightly | 9 Oct 20 | 3,000 | 409 | 12,270 | Initial stake |
| Silence Therapeutics | Dr. Giles Campion | 9 Oct 20 | 4,945 | 404 | 19,978 | Holding 14,945 shares (0.02 per cent) |
| Stagecoach | Lynne Weedall | 12 Oct 20 | 12,000 | 38.8 | 4,654 | |
| Tesco | Simon Patterson | 8 Oct 20 | 70,423 | 211.2 | 148,719 | |
| TP ICAP | Richard Berliand (ch) | 9 Oct 20 | 25,000 | 229.3 | 57,330 | |
| TP ICAP | Nicolas Breteau (ce) | 9 Oct 20 | 10,000 | 230 | 23,000 | |
| Sells | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Anpario | Karen Prior (fd) | 8 Oct 20 | 74,751 | 400 | 299,004 | Holding 74,751 shares (0.3 per cent) |
| Gamma Communications | Andrew Stone | 5 Oct 20 | 12,000 | 1,650 | 198,000 | |
| Gamma Communications | Andrew Stone | 5 Oct 20 | 88,000 | 1,656 | 1,457,293 | Holding 600,601 shares (0.6 per cent) |
