Drax (DRX) shares have lost some momentum of late, caught up in a broader sell-off in global equity markets. However, management seems confident in the company's long-term prospects, with chief executive Will Gardiner recently bumping up his stake.
Mr Gardiner spent a little under £200,000 in late December, taking his holding to its largest ever level, according to data from S&P Capital IQ.
And such a vote of confidence comes at a critical point. Drax started the year by acquiring a portfolio of pumped storage, hydro and gas-fired generation assets from Iberdrola. The deal was first announced in October last year, but in early December the group announced updated terms, which included a risk-sharing mechanism intended to mitigate any potential fallout from the UK capacity market auction. The acquisition should strengthen Drax’s portfolio of flexible, low-carbon and renewable forms of energy generation, which management believes will enhance the group’s proposition as the UK’s energy network moves increasingly towards lower emission, decentralised power sources.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| 4d pharma | David Norwood (ch) | 20 Dec 18 | 10,000 | 103 | 10,300 | 7,080,000 | 10.810 |
| Aviva | Adrian Montague (ch) | 20 Dec 18 | 16,168 | 369 | 59,660 | 58,553 | 0.002 |
| BlackRock Throgmorton Trust | Christopher Samuel (ch) | 21 Dec 18 | 2,500 | 442.6 | 11,065 | 13,500 | 0.018 |
| Byotrol | John Langlands (ch) | 20 Dec 18 | 2,400,000 | 1.535 | 36,840 | 8,000,000 | 1.857 |
| Byotrol | Thomas Francis | 20 Dec 18 | 1,559,312 | 1.6 | 24,949 | 4,470,214 | 1.037 |
| Civitas Social Housing | Michael Wrobel (ch) | 20 Dec 18 | 30,000 | 97.194 | 29,158 | 60,000 | 0.010 |
| CLS | Elizabeth Edwards | 21 Dec 18 | 4,527 | 218.69 | 9,900 | 4,527 | 0.001 |
| Connect | Tony Grace (cfo) | 21 Dec 18 | 44,943 | 36.5 | 16,404 | 100,727 | 0.041 |
| CPP | Oliver Laird (cfo) | 20 Dec 18 | 159,601 | 6.25 | 9,975 | 159,601 | 0.019 |
| CPP | Richard Lapthorne (ch) | 21 Dec 18 | 500,000 | 6.75 | 33,750 | 4,700,000 | 0.546 |
| CPP♥ | Mark Hamlin | 21 Dec 18 | 400,000 | 7.01 | 28,040 | 1,436,589 | 0.167 |
| Dialight | David Thomas | 21 Dec 18 | 4,700 | 323 | 15,181 | 5,994 | 0.018 |
| Drax | Will Gardiner (ceo) | 21 Dec 18 | 55,710 | 359 | 199,999 | 144,488 | 0.037 |
| ECR Minerals* | Craig Brown (ceo) | 21 Dec 18 | 1,428,571 | 0.7 | 10,000 | 2,977,842 | 0.668 |
| ECR Minerals* | Weili Tang (ch) | 21 Dec 18 | 1,428,572 | 0.7 | 10,000 | 1,428,572 | 0.320 |
| Falanx | Ian Selby (cfo) | 20 Dec 18 | 172,069 | 2.9 | 4,990 | 898,736 | 0.224 |
| Falanx | Michael Read (ch) | 20 Dec 18 | 175,000 | 2.9 | 5,075 | 10,003,940 | 2.498 |
| Fidelity Special Values | Dean Buckley | 21 Dec 18 | 17,500 | 227.5 | 39,813 | 30,000 | 0.011 |
| Gulf Marine Services | Simon Heale (ch) | 21 Dec 18 | 220,000 | 9.063 | 19,939 | 294,074 | 0.084 |
| Gulf Marine Services | Simon Batey | 21 Dec 18 | 97,876 | 10.16 | 9,944 | 234,913 | 0.067 |
| Horizonte Minerals | Simon Retter (cfo) | 20 Dec 18 | 138,121 | 1.81 | 2,500 | 1,138,121 | 0.079 |
| Horizonte Minerals | Jeremy Martin (ceo) | 20 Dec 18 | 225,000 | 1.82 | 4,095 | 2,028,908 | 0.142 |
| Johnson Service Group | Peter Egan | 20 Dec 18 | 10,000 | 117.3 | 11,730 | 34,716 | 0.009 |
| JPMorgan American Investment Trust | Kevin Carter (ch) | 21 Dec 18 | 5,000 | 397.31 | 19,866 | 35,000 | 0.016 |
| JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust | Christopher Samuel (ch) | 21 Dec 18 | 2,500 | 378.95 | 9,474 | 12,500 | 0.008 |
| JPMorgan US Smaller Companies IT | Shefaly Yogendra | 20 Dec 18 | 500 | 274.69 | 1,373 | 1,000 | 0.002 |
| Keywords Studios | Georges Fornay | 21 Dec 18 | 2,000 | 980 | 19,600 | 5,142 | 0.008 |
| Learning Technologies | Leslie-Ann Reed | 20 Dec 18 | 15,523 | 76.65 | 11,898 | 6,186,534 | 0.928 |
| Legal & General | Melville Lewis | 21 Dec 18 | 21,998 | 225.6 | 49,627 | 21,998 | 0.000 |
| Lowland Investment Co | Kevin Carter | 20 Dec 18 | 4,000 | 1289.67 | 51,587 | 12,000 | 0.044 |
| Netcall | Michael Jackson (ch) | 24 Dec 18 | 200,000 | 30 | 60,000 | 1,000,000 | 0.699 |
| NMC Health | Salma Ali Saif Bin Hareb | 24 Dec 18 | 5,500 | 2699.07 | 148,449 | 12,100 | 0.006 |
| Oxford Metrics | David Quantrell | 21 Dec 18 | 25,000 | 70 | 17,500 | 25,000 | 0.020 |
| Oxford Metrics | David Quantrell | 21 Dec 18 | 25,000 | 71 | 17,750 | 50,000 | 0.040 |
| Park Group | Laura Carstensen (ch) | 20 Dec 18 | 25,800 | 71.5 | 18,447 | 35,000 | 0.019 |
| Primorus Investments | Alastair Clayton | 21 Dec 18 | 2,500,000 | 0.1 | 2,500 | 87,500,000 | 3.129 |
| Purplebricks | Adrian Blair | 21 Dec 18 | 33,675 | 148 | 49,839 | 33,675 | 0.011 |
| Purplebricks | Michael Bruce (ceo) | 21 Dec 18 | 167,925 | 148 | 248,529 | 33,386,072 | 11.041 |
| Purplebricks | Simon Downing | 21 Dec 18 | 133,500 | 148 | 197,580 | 133,500 | 0.044 |
| RA International | Sangita Shah (ch) | 20 Dec 18 | 42,983 | 46.5 | 19,987 | 42,983 | 0.025 |
| Renalytix♥ | Christopher Mills | 20 Dec 18 | 3,168 | 112 | 3,548 | 9,199,568 | 17.094 |
| Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund | Andrew Page | 20 Dec 18 | 3,000 | 452.4 | 13,572 | 7,000 | 0.020 |
| Shearwater | Philip Higgins | 24 Dec 18 | 2,500,000 | 2.7 | 67,500 | 2,500,000 | 0.131 |
| Standard Life Private Equity Trust | Christina McComb | 24 Dec 18 | 4,466 | 323 | 14,425 | 11,602 | 0.008 |
| Ultra Electronics | Amitabh Sharma (fd) | 21 Dec 18 | 381 | 1303.6 | 4,967 | 3,093 | 0.004 |
| Velocys | Henrik Wareborn (ceo) | 21 Dec 18 | 1,000,000 | 4.7289 | 47,289 | 1,000,000 | 0.244 |
| Worldwide Healthcare Trust | Humphrey van der Klugt | 20 Dec 18 | 1,500 | 2400 | 36,000 | 3,000 | 0.006 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Drax | David Nussbaum | 21 Dec 18 | 7,500 | 358.1 | 26,858 | 0 | 0.000 |
| LondonMetric Property♥ | Patrick Vaughan (ch) | 20 Dec 18 | 11,000 | 182.7 | 20,097 | 12,293,000 | 1.762 |
| Venn Life Sciences | Michael Ryan | 21 Dec 18 | 138,672 | 1.9 | 2,635 | 134,586 | 0.189 |
| Wizz Air | Jozsef Varadi (ceo) | 21 Dec 18 | 8,406 | 2769 | 232,762 | 1,927,094 | 2.649 |
| Wizz Air | Jozsef Varadi (ceo) | 24 Dec 18 | 450 | 2769 | 12,461 | 1,926,644 | 2.648 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party | |||||||
