Christmas trading was largely positive for supermarket chain WM Morrison (MRW), reflected in the shares’ new-found momentum. The stock lost steam towards the end of 2018 after the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor revealed significantly slower grocery sales growth in November. But a 3.6 per cent rise in Morrison's like-for-like sales (excluding fuel) over the nine weeks to 6 January 2019 got to get some investors back on board.
IC TIP:
Hold
at
243p
The group has warned of further price cuts this year as the market remains highly competitive – not to mention subdued by ongoing political and economic uncertainty ahead of the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU). But one person still confident in the group’s near-term prospects is non-executive chairman Andrew Higginson, who spent just north of £150,000 on 63,650 shares at the end of January.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Aberdeen Emerging Markets | Helen Green | 05 Feb 2019 | 1,800 | 548.88 | 9,880 | 1,800 | 0.004 |
| Aberdeen Emerging Markets | Mark Hadsley-Chaplin (ch) | 04 Feb 2019 | 5,000 | 550 | 27,500 | 30,000 | 0.065 |
| Aberdeen Emerging Markets | William Collins | 01 Feb 2019 | 3,000 | 550 | 16,500 | 15,000 | 0.033 |
| AEW UK REIT | James Hyslop | 06 Feb 2019 | 50,000 | 91.25 | 45,625 | 200,000 | 0.132 |
| AEW UK REIT | James Hyslop | 06 Feb 2019 | 50,000 | 91.25 | 45,625 | 250,000 | 0.165 |
| Alcentra European Floating Rate Income | Trudi Clark | 31 Jan 2019 | 7,500 | 96.392 | 7,229 | 7,500 | 0.005 |
| B&M | Tiffany Hall | 04 Feb 2019 | 3,050 | 327.45 | 9,987 | 3,050 | 0.000 |
| B.P. Marsh & Partners | Brian Marsh (ch) | 01 Feb 2019 | 19,608 | 280 | 54,902 | 16,584,679 | 44.285 |
| Baillie Gifford UK Growth Fund | Ruary Neill | 01 Feb 2019 | 20,000 | 177 | 35,400 | 20,000 | 0.013 |
| Begbies Traynor | Mark Stupples | 05 Feb 2019 | 30,727 | 65.088 | 20,000 | 30,727 | 0.028 |
| CVS♥ | Richard Fairman | 31 Jan 2019 | 10,000 | 404.5 | 40,450 | 11,450 | 0.016 |
| Deltex Medical | Nigel Keen (ch) | 05 Feb 2019 | 8,695,652 | 1.125 | 97,826 | 62,918,762 | 12.550 |
| Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust | Brian Finlayson | 01 Feb 2019 | 22,000 | 348.8 | 76,736 | 148,052 | 0.717 |
| Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust | Angela Lane | 05 Feb 2019 | 2,473 | 364.557 | 9,015 | 17,473 | 0.085 |
| Emmerson | Edward McDermott | 01 Feb 2019 | 350,000 | 2.84 | 9,940 | 350,000 | 0.056 |
| Filtronic | Peter Magowan | 01 Feb 2019 | 250,000 | 6.7 | 16,750 | 500,000 | 0.240 |
| Filtronic | Peter Magowan | 01 Feb 2019 | 250,000 | 6.8 | 17,000 | 750,000 | 0.360 |
| Filtronic | Peter Magowan | 01 Feb 2019 | 250,000 | 7.3 | 18,250 | 250,000 | 0.120 |
| Findel | Stuart Caldwell (cfo) | 31 Jan 2019 | 10,543 | 188.68 | 19,893 | 46,270 | 0.054 |
| Hargreaves Services | David Anderson | 06 Feb 2019 | 32,775 | 303.5 | 99,472 | 32,775 | 0.102 |
| Invesco Asia Trust | Neil Rogan (ch) | 04 Feb 2019 | 13,000 | 274.04 | 35,625 | 43,000 | 0.061 |
| Invesco Asia Trust | Neil Rogan (ch) | 04 Feb 2019 | 13,000 | 275 | 35,750 | 56,000 | 0.079 |
| Knights Group | Richard King (coo) | 04 Feb 2019 | 29,383 | 259 | 76,102 | 63,815 | 0.088 |
| Knights Group♥ | Richard King (coo) | 04 Feb 2019 | 24,017 | 259 | 62,204 | 87,832 | 0.122 |
| Morrison Supermarkets | Andrew Higginson (ch) | 31 Jan 2019 | 63,560 | 236 | 150,002 | 329,769 | 0.014 |
| Oakley Capital | Peter Dubens | 31 Jan 2019 | 125,000 | 187.5 | 234,375 | 9,479,068 | 4.628 |
| Oakley Capital | Peter Dubens | 31 Jan 2019 | 75,000 | 188 | 141,000 | 9,554,068 | 4.665 |
| Phoenix Global Mining* | Dennis Thomas (ceo) | 06 Feb 2019 | 41,176 | 17 | 7,000 | 1,196,048 | 3.616 |
| Phoenix Global Mining* | Marcus Edwards-Jones (ch) | 06 Feb 2019 | 41,176 | 17 | 7,000 | 589,407 | 1.782 |
| Phoenix Global Mining* | Roger Turner (cto) | 06 Feb 2019 | 41,176 | 17 | 7,000 | 1,238,318 | 3.744 |
| Proton Power Systems | Helmut Gierse (ch) | 04 Feb 2019 | 336,060 | 7.95 | 26,717 | 3,856,399 | 0.598 |
| Renewi | Colin Matthews (ch) | 04 Feb 2019 | 100,000 | 25 | 25,000 | 450,000 | 0.056 |
| Renewi | Toby Woolrych (fd) | 04 Feb 2019 | 59,653 | 25 | 14,913 | 373,404 | 0.047 |
| SSP | Carolyn Bradley | 31 Jan 2019 | 5,932 | 670.62 | 39,781 | 5,932 | 0.001 |
| UDG Healthcare | Erik Van Snippenberg | 01 Feb 2019 | 7,500 | 587 | 44,025 | 7,500 | 0.003 |
| Value and Income Trust | Matthew Oakeshott | 04 Feb 2019 | 25,000 | 259 | 64,750 | 9,646,000 | 21.177 |
| Value and Income Trust♥ | Matthew Oakeshott | 04 Feb 2019 | 25,000 | 259 | 64,750 | 9,671,000 | 21.232 |
| Workspace | Ishbel Macpherson | 01 Feb 2019 | 3,150 | 950.298 | 29,934 | 3,150 | 0.002 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| BP Marsh & Partners | Campbell Scoones | 05 Feb 2019 | 4,000 | 286 | 11,440 | 49,798 | 0.133 |
| Carclo | Christopher Malley (ceo) | 06 Feb 2019 | 100,000 | 46.5 | 46,500 | 193,659 | 0.264 |
| Carr's♥ | Christopher Holmes (ch) | 01 Feb 2019 | 30,000 | 170 | 51,000 | 739,000 | 0.809 |
| Intermediate Capital | Philip Keller (fd) | 06 Feb 2019 | 100,000 | 1045 | 1,045,000 | 441,438 | 0.152 |
| Softcat♥ | Lee Ginsberg | 31 Jan 2019 | 3,472 | 692 | 24,026 | 17,361 | 0.009 |
| *Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
