In the largest director deal of the past fortnight, IntegraFin (IHP) founder and executive director Michael Howard disposed of 8.5m shares in the investment platform group, in a transaction worth £39.4m. The shares were bought by institutional investors, through an accelerated book-build run by Barclays and Peel Hunt.
Although Mr Howard could not be reached directly for comment, IntegraFin said the sale was primarily to allow him “to complete the funding for a charitable foundation”, although some of the proceeds would be used “for diversification purposes”. The group stressed that the director’s role is unchanged, and Mr Howard has agreed not to sell any of his remaining 8.9 per cent stake in the business until the end of July.
After developing the software behind IntegraFin’s Transact platform in Australia, Mr Howard founded the UK group in 1999, and served as executive chairman for almost 16 years until 2017. The following year IntegraFin floated on the London Stock Exchange and Mr Howard reduced his stake in the business from 19.2 to 13.3 per cent, netting around £38.8m in the process.
In September, the founder sold a further 6m shares for £22.2m – also for charity and diversification purposes – and dematerialised his then-certificated shareholding.
Mr Howard is not alone in his decision to take some money off the table. Since the group’s full-year results in December, the husband of chief operating officer Judith Davidson has netted £2.84m from the sale of 610,000 shares. And with the shares up by more than 150 per cent since the company floated less than two years ago, investors will wonder whether these disposals signal that senior management views the stock as fully valued.
| Buys | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Accrol Group Holdings | Dan Wright (ch) | 28 Jan 20 | 1,000,000 | 38 | 380,000 | Residual holding 4,077,808 shares |
| ASOS | Nick Beighton (ce) | 29 Jan 20 | 1,629 | 3,060 | 49,847 | Residual holding 174,128 shares |
| Sells | ||||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Abcam | Dr Jonathan Milner | 24 Jan 20 | 1,100,000 | 1,411.53 | 15,526,830 | Residual holding 18,009,496 shares |
| AJ Bell | Louis Petherick (PDMR) | 24 Jan 20 | 48,234 | 392 | 189,077 | Residual holding 165,106 shares |
| Eckoh | Todd Funk (PDMR) | 28 Jan 20 | 350,000 | 58 | 203,000 | Residual holding 342,242 shares |
| Focusrite | Damian Hawley (PDMR) | 29 Jan 20 | 17,590 | 724 | 127,352 | Sold by spouse. Residual holding 168,795 shares |
| IntegraFin Holdings | Michael Howard | 29 Jan 20 | 8,500,000 | 463 | 39,355,000 | Funding for a charitable foundation |
| Treatt | Timothy Jones (ch) | 29 Jan 20 | 65,000 | 533 | 346,450 | SIPP |
