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Action Hotels director buys at the bottom

The share price for the Middle Eastern hotel group has hit an all-time low following a profit warning in March
April 19, 2018

Sheikh Mubarak A. M. Al Sabah, a director at Action Hotels (AHCG), has followed the well-trodden investment strategy to ‘buy on the dips’. He purchased just over 9.7m shares in the Middle Eastern hotel group at 23p each. The £2.23m transaction means the director now owns more than 107m shares, or nearly three-quarters of Action Hotels’ share capital.

IC TIP: Hold at 17p

But if the shares were bought in advance of a turnaround, it's not certain where the catalyst for a share price re-rating actually lies. In a pre-close trading update in March, the company warned that pre-tax losses will be “materially higher” than expected at $12.2m – double the $6.3m loss before tax reported in 2016. Management has blamed the inability to capitalise interest costs after two hotel openings were delayed, early repayment fees and higher depreciation charges.

Buys
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Action Hotels Sheikh Mubarak (ch)05 Apr 189,715,463232,234,556107,021,07972.489
BH Global Julia Chapman11 Apr 181,081138014,9181,0810.005
Best of the Best Michael Hindmarch (ch)06 Apr 187,50021716,275888,2228.796
Best of the Best Michael Hindmarch (ch)09 Apr 1811,500230.86926,550899,7228.909
British Empire Trust Anja Balfour05 Apr 184,300700.74530,1327,3000.006
Cenkos Securities Gerald Aherne (ch)10 Apr 1819,056104.9519,99975,3200.136
City Merchants High Yield Trust♥John Boothman09 Apr 1811,700187.4721,93475,0000.079
City Merchants High Yield Trust♥John Boothman09 Apr 1813,300186.824,84463,3000.066
Collagen Solutions David Evans (ch)10 Apr 183,142,8572.7586,42942,537,41113.108
Devro Malcolm Swift09 Apr 185,000202.9810,1495,0000.003
Equiniti  Guy Wakeley (ceo)09 Apr 186,869289.6219,8941,103,9060.303
Essentra Paul Forman (ceo)06 Apr 1820,000429.585,900160,0000.061
Fevertree Drinks Kevin Havelock09 Apr 185,0002,681.90134,09510,5210.009
Fevertree Drinks Kevin Havelock09 Apr 185,0002,684.61134,2315,5210.005
Frenkel Topping  Stephen Bentley (cfo)11 Apr 18205,84148.12899,067205,8410.262
Grafton♥David Arnold (cfo)10 Apr 182,631764.7620,12159,1310.025
Grafton♥David Arnold (cfo)10 Apr 182,869764.3121,92862,0000.026
Grafton  David Arnold (cfo)10 Apr 182,872765.2721,97956,5000.024
Horizon Discovery♥Jonathan Milner05 Apr 18370,000132488,40010,815,1727.254
Horizon Discovery  Richard Vellacott05 Apr 1837,830131.549,74675,6990.051
Lamprell Christopher McDonald (ceo)10 Apr 18200,00078.73157,460536,9800.157
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets Kevin Havelock10 Apr 18100,000226.05226,050100,0000.004
Mortgage Advice Bureau Katherine Innes-Ker (ch)05 Apr 183,19062319,87412,3070.024
NAHL  Tim Aspinall06 Apr 1810,00014014,00010,0000.022
National Express  Jane Kingston11 Apr 183,000404.349712,1305,1000.001
Next Michael Roney (ch)06 Apr 181,0534,722.1249,72425,1320.018
Next Michael Roney (ch)06 Apr 181,2634,722.9159,65029,1270.020
Next Michael Roney (ch)06 Apr 182,7324,733.31129,31427,8640.020
Oakley Capital Investments Christopher Wetherhill (ch)11 Apr 1814,700169.7524,953214,7000.105
Oxford BioMedica♥Andrew Heath09 Apr 18120,0001113,2001,800,0000.055
Oxford BioMedica♥Martin Diggle10 Apr 181,000,00011110,000582,008,43417.724
Oxford BioMedica Peter Nolan05 Apr 18371,45010.840,1172,289,7710.070
Polymetal International♥Marina Grönberg09 Apr 182,80062017,36050,3890.012
Polymetal International Marina Grönberg09 Apr 184,00065226,08035,4000.008
Polymetal International♥Marina Grönberg09 Apr 1810,00064364,30047,5890.011
Restaurant GroupKirk Davis (cfo)05 Apr 1824,000262.863,07224,0000.012
Rio Tinto Simon Henry10 Apr 185003713.2918,5665000.000
SThree James Bilefield05 Apr 1810,000362.47536,24810,0000.008
St Modwen Properties Jamie Hopkins09 Apr 1812,564396.2549,78512,5640.006
TMT Investments*Alexander Selegenev06 Apr 1820,57624350,00050,5760.173
TP ICap David Shalders09 Apr 184,470444.919,8878,7190.002
Tasty Jonny Plant05 Apr 18311,2501443,5754,154,5796.948
Sells
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Accesso Technology  John Alder (fd)05 Apr 1835,2502,200775,50037,9130.144
Accesso Technology  Tom Burnet (ch)05 Apr 18226,9092,2004,991,998224,1580.851
Beazley♥Martin Bride (fd)10 Apr 182,66757715,389169,6430.032
Beazley Martin Bride (fd)10 Apr 182,66857715,394172,3100.033
Costain  Andrew Wyllie (ce)10 Apr 1814,420460.666,419452,7770.427
Costain  Anthony Bickerstaff (fd)10 Apr 189,613460.644,277256,7670.242
Fulcrum Utility Services Philip Holder (ch)05 Apr 1837,2007126,412917,4660.434
GKN Mark Sclater (fd)05 Apr 1813,88943059,72347,4610.003
GKN Phil Swash05 Apr 185,000429.621,480143,4240.008
Independent Investment Trust (The) D McDougall (ch)10 Apr 1825,000710177,5008,244,50014.863
Independent Investment Trust (The) Maxwell Ward06 Apr 183,60070525,3803,946,6007.115
Palace Capital Anthony Dove06 Apr 186,00032419,44085,0000.185
Topps Tiles Rob Parker (fd)10 Apr 1897,5006967,275320,3950.166
*Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party