The chief product officer of IG (IGG) has cashed out of a six-week spread bet on the shares of the derivatives trading platform, netting a profit of £54,409.
Matthew Brief – a 19-year veteran of the FTSE 250 firm – sold a derivative equivalent to 50,000 IG shares for £422,300 on 18 September, the day after a scheduled trading update revealed revenues for the group's August-end first quarter were up 62 per cent on the prior year.
That disclosure helped push up the stock by 6 per cent and allowed Mr Brief to cash out of the trade at a 15 per cent premium to the share price on 7 August, when he first purchased the derivative. A regulatory filing of the transaction did not disclose how much leverage Mr Brief used in the spread bet, a type of high-risk wager on the price move of a security which unlike contracts-for-difference are exempt from capital gains tax.
It is unusual for directors of publicly-listed companies to make leveraged bets on the share price movements of their firms, or trade over such short timeframes. IG declined to comment, though we understand the executive did not make the trade on the platform he helps to manage.
However, Mr Brief wasn’t the only insider to cash in on IG’s share price rise following the trading update. On 18 September, chief risk officer Joe McCaughran made two sales worth a combined £70,554, while his wife Helen McCaughran disposed of the 10,000 shares he had transferred her a day before – the same day Mr Brief also transferred 9,000 shares to his wife Jasmin Brief.
Buys | ||||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
Babcock International | David Lockwood (ceo) | 21 Sep 20 | 46,924 | 211.52 | 99,254 | |
Crest Nicholson | Peter Truscott (ceo) | 21 Sep 20 | 44,000 | 168.87 | 74,301 | |
DX Group | Ronald Series (ch) | 17 Sep 20 | 210,500 | 18.27 | 38,449 | Average price |
DX Group | David Mulligan (cfo) | 18 Sep 20 | 116,000 | 17.25 | 20,010 | |
Finsbury Food | John Duffy (ceo) | 21 Sep 20 | 173,913 | 57.5 | 100,000 | Purchased by PCA |
Greencore | Gary Kennedy | 21 Sep 20 | 36,407 | 98 | 35,679 | |
James Fisher | Eoghan O'Lionaird (ceo) | 18 Sep 20 | 4,329 | 1,148.56 | 49,785 | Average price |
Network International | Simon Haslam (ceo) | 21 Sep 20 | 50,926 | 216 | 110,000 | |
Network International | Rohinton Kalifa (ch) | 18 Sep 20 | 35,000 | 291 | 101,704 | |
Network International | Victoria Hull | 21 Sep 20 | 66,319 | 224 | 148,517 | Average price |
Ninety One | Hendrik du Toit/Kim McFarland | 17 Sep 20 | 124,996 | 208.72 | 260,890 | Purchased by PCA |
Ninety One | Hendrik du Toit/Kim McFarland | 18 Sep 20 | 1,000,718 | 214.24 | 2,143,924 | Purchased by PCA |
Ninety One | Colin Keogh | 18 Sep 20 | 20,000 | 211 | 42,280 | Average price |
Photo-Me International | Serge Crasnianski (ceo) | 16 Sep 20 | 3,568,448 | 53 | 1,891,277 | Purchased by PCA |
Redrow | John Tutte | 22 Sep 20 | 25,000 | 366.4 | 91,600 | Purchased by PCA |
Rotala | Bob Dunn | 15-16 Sep 20 | 102,500 | 20.95 | 21,475 | Average price |
Superdry | Julian Dunkerton (ceo) | 21 Sep 20 | 846,883 | 135.77 | 1,149,813 | Residual interest of 19.5% |
TT Electronics | Jack Boyer | 18 Sep 20 | 12,926 | 198 | 25,593 | 10,126 shares purchased by PCA |
Uniphar | Paul Hogan | 21 Sep 20 | 32,998 | 227 | 75,037 | Converted from € |
Vistry Group | Greg Fitzgerald (ceo) | 21 Sep 20 | 18,288 | 542.7 | 99,249 | Purchased by PCA |
WANdisco | David Richards (ch/ceo) | 18 Sep 20 | 6,000 | 405 | 24,300 | Average price |
Sells | ||||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
Anpario | Karen Prior | 18 Sep 20 | 85,000 | 398.41 | 338,650 | Average price |
DS Smith | Stefano Rossi | 18 Sep 20 | 46,000 | 292.3 | 134,458 | Sold to meet tax obligations |
Dechra Pharmaceuticals | Julian Heslop | 17 Sep 20 | 4,000 | 3,248 | 129,930 | |
Electrocomponents | Karen Guerra | 16 Sep 20 | 24,756 | 716 | 177,263 | Average price |
Gaming Realms | Jim Ryan | 15-17 Sep 20 | 1,000,000 | 22.53 | 225,300 | Average price |
Highland Gold Mining | Eugene Shvidler (ch) | 18 Sep 20 | 17,978,758 | 300 | 53,936,274 | |
Highland Gold Mining | Valery Oyf | 18 Sep 20 | 6,609,922 | 300 | 19,829,766 | |
IG Group | Joe McCaughran | 18 Sep 20 | 18,356 | 844 | 154,925 | 10,000 shares sold by PCA |
IG Group | Matthew Brief | 18 Sep 20 | 50,000 | 844.6 | 422,300 | Sale of derivative (spread bet) |
Taseko Mines | Brian Battison | 18 Sep 20 | 100,000 | 132 | 132,371 | Converted from US$ |