Seven senior managers at Vodafone (VOD), including new chief executive Nick Read and chairman Gerard Kleisterlee, have topped up their holdings in the telecoms giant. Whether they’re trying to boost sentiment or merely capitalising on recent share price weakness is unclear, but Vodafone’s investors could do with some reassurance – the share price has fallen 30 per cent since January.
The market seems wary of the group’s difficulties in the UK, where intense competition dented revenues in the year to March 2018. But there's still plenty of growth on offer in Europe, where the group has secured some assets from peer Liberty Global.
At 166p, the shares trade on a price to forward earnings ratio of 14 times and the dividend yields over 8 per cent. Mr Read and his colleagues – who, together have shelled out £1.4m on the shares – seem to have picked a good moment to top up their stakes.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Advanced Oncotherapy* | Enrico Vanni | 31 Aug 18 | 204,082 | 49 | 100,000 | 1,926,361 | 1.136 |
| Advanced Oncotherapy* | Piers Plowman | 31 Aug 18 | 306,122 | 49 | 150,000 | 4,084,354 | 2.409 |
| Advanced Oncotherapy* | Hans von Celsing | 31 Aug 18 | 30,000 | 49 | 14,700 | 30,000 | 0.018 |
| Anglo Pacific | Robert Stan | 30 Aug 18 | 10,000 | 155 | 15,500 | 213,015 | 0.117 |
| Better Capital | Jonathan Moulton | 05 Sep 18 | 1,750,000 | 11.016 | 192,780 | 18,400,000 | 5.785 |
| Bigblu Broadband | Michael Tobin (ch) | 30 Aug 18 | 8,770 | 113.9 | 9,989 | 137,088 | 0.242 |
| British Empire Trust | Susan Noble (ch) | 05 Sep 18 | 2,635 | 754.7 | 19,886 | 13,630 | 0.012 |
| Collagen Solutions | Tom Hyland | 03 Sep 18 | 115,988 | 4.31 | 4,999 | 273,847 | 0.084 |
| Coro Energy | James Menzies (ceo) | 05 Sep 18 | 712,576 | 4.21 | 29,999 | 1,712,576 | 0.238 |
| Essentra | Paul Forman (ceo) | 05 Sep 18 | 20,000 | 441 | 88,200 | 200,000 | 0.076 |
| Franchise Brands | David Poutney | 03 Sep 18 | 60,000 | 80 | 48,000 | 3,310,791 | 4.265 |
| Georgia Capital | Irakli Gilauri (ch & ceo) | 30 Aug 18 | 3,571 | 1,014.74 | 36,236 | 863,677 | 2.252 |
| Great Eastern Energy | Prashant Modi (ceo) | 31 Aug 18 | 250,000 | 70 | 175,000 | 75,831,912 | 63.658 |
| Great Eastern Energy | Yogena Modi (ch) | 31 Aug 18 | 250,000 | 70 | 175,000 | 75,831,912 | 63.658 |
| Haynes Publishing | Eddie Bell (ch) | 05 Sep 18 | 10,946 | 205 | 22,439 | 10,946 | 0.072 |
| Legal & General | Carolyn Bradley | 03 Sep 18 | 669 | 256.5 | 1,716 | 29,734 | 0.000 |
| Legal & General | John Kingman (ch) | 03 Sep 18 | 1,490 | 256.5 | 3,822 | 140,999 | 0.002 |
| Legal & General | Toby Strauss | 03 Sep 18 | 1,072 | 256.5 | 2,750 | 18,113 | 0.000 |
| Lowland Investment Co | Gaynor Coley | 31 Aug 18 | 500 | 1,524.45 | 7,622 | 500 | 0.002 |
| Micro Focus International | Kevin Loosemore (ch) | 05 Sep 18 | 4,866 | 1,309.05 | 63,698 | 751,179 | 0.173 |
| Mortgage Advice Bureau | Nathan Imlach | 31 Aug 18 | 217 | 668 | 1,450 | 28,250 | 0.056 |
| Mporium | Nelius De Groot (ceo) | 30 Aug 18 | 750,000 | 6.1 | 45,750 | 10,027,633 | 1.706 |
| Obtala | Miles Pelham (ch) | 05 Sep 18 | 5,000,000 | 5 | 250,000 | 17,027,754 | 5.196 |
| Obtala | Miles Pelham (ch) | 04 Sep 18 | 3,020,000 | 5.16 | 155,832 | 12,027,754 | 3.670 |
| Smith (DS) | Adrian Marsh (fd) | 04 Sep 18 | 7,978 | 502.71 | 40,106 | 340,008 | 0.025 |
| Staffline | Christopher Pullen (ceo) | 05 Sep 18 | 2,000 | 1,240 | 24,800 | 19,043 | 0.068 |
| TP ICap | Robin Stewart | 31 Aug 18 | 12,000 | 286.141 | 34,337 | 12,000 | 0.002 |
| U and I | Richard Upton | 30 Aug 18 | 25,000 | 223 | 55,750 | 3,151,233 | 2.512 |
| Vodafone | Gerard Kleisterlee (ch) | 05 Sep 18 | 112,922 | 164.33 | 185,565 | 220,000 | 0.001 |
| William Hill♥ | Ruth Prior (cfo) | 05 Sep 18 | 38,998 | 257.66 | 100,482 | 75,070 | 0.009 |
| Worldwide Healthcare Trust | Sven Borho | 04 Sep 18 | 7,000 | 2,900 | 203,000 | 7,000 | 0.015 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Bilby | Philip Copolo | 04 Sep 18 | 12,596,896 | 100 | 12,596,896 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Creo Medical | Christopher Hancock | 30 Aug 18 | 480,000 | 125 | 600,000 | 4,400,046 | 3.669 |
| Creo Medical | Craig Gulliford (ceo) | 30 Aug 18 | 480,000 | 125 | 600,000 | 609,886 | 0.509 |
| D4t4 Solutions | Roger McDowell | 04 Sep 18 | 1,550,000 | 189.62 | 2,939,110 | 0 | 0.000 |
| TBC Bank | Giorgi Shagidze (cfo) | 30 Aug 18 | 4,452 | 1,600 | 71,232 | 23,088 | 0.043 |
| TBC Bank | Giorgi Shagidze (cfo) | 30 Aug 18 | 175 | 1,614 | 2,825 | 22,570 | 0.042 |
| TBC Bank | Giorgi Shagidze (cfo) | 30 Aug 18 | 343 | 1,626 | 5,577 | 22,745 | 0.042 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party | |||||||
