A disappointing set of interim results from supermarket chain Tesco (TSCO) – not to mention a subsequent loss of momentum in the share price – has presented some of the company’s bosses with a buying opportunity. Between 3 October and 5 October 2018, at prices varying between 212p and 215p, directors including chief executive David Lewis and chairman John Allan spent more than £290,000 in aggregate topping up their respective holdings.
IC TIP:
Buy
at
207p
Half-year operating profits of £933m may have fallen short of consensus estimates, but it’s clear that Tesco’s acquisition of wholesaler Booker is paying off. The latter helped drive a 13 per cent improvement in half-year sales, as well as a slight widening in operating margins across the UK and Ireland. The longer-term aim is still to grow group operating margins to between 3.5 per cent and 4 per cent by FY2020.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Amino Technologies | Donald McGarva (ceo) | 09 Oct 18 | 4,000 | 132.6 | 5,304 | 544,698 | 0.748 |
| Amino Technologies | Mark Carlisle (cfo) | 09 Oct 18 | 3,751 | 132.95 | 4,987 | 8,751 | 0.012 |
| Arrow Global | Andrew Fisher | 05 Oct 18 | 10,000 | 202.32 | 20,232 | 30,000 | 0.017 |
| Audioboom | Michael Tobin (ch) | 05 Oct 18 | 714,286 | 1.4 | 10,000 | 1,890,756 | 0.161 |
| Audioboom | Michael Tobin (ch) | 04 Oct 18 | 1,176,470 | 1.69 | 19,882 | 1,176,470 | 0.100 |
| Benchmark | Hugo Wahnish | 09 Oct 18 | 100,000 | 56.5 | 56,500 | 275,000 | 0.049 |
| Bigblu Broadband | Michael Tobin (ch) | 10 Oct 18 | 14,285 | 105 | 14,999 | 174,521 | 0.308 |
| Bigblu Broadband | Michael Tobin (ch) | 09 Oct 18 | 23,148 | 107 | 24,768 | 160,236 | 0.283 |
| BlackRock World Mining Trust | Ian Cockerill (ch) | 10 Oct 18 | 5,000 | 355.225 | 17,761 | 65,789 | 0.037 |
| Bluejay Mining | Garth Palmer | 04 Oct 18 | 74,941 | 10.675 | 8,000 | 633,831 | 0.075 |
| Bluejay Mining | Roderick McIllree | 04 Oct 18 | 100,000 | 10.685 | 10,685 | 94,677,778 | 11.140 |
| Boot (Henry) | Darren Littlewood (fd) | 04 Oct 18 | 5,000 | 283.128 | 14,156 | 72,500 | 0.054 |
| Carpetright | Wilf Walsh (ceo) | 09 Oct 18 | 222,000 | 18.0423 | 40,054 | 734,428 | 1.030 |
| CC Japan Income & Growth Trust | Kate Cornish-Bowden | 09 Oct 18 | 20,000 | 160.39 | 32,078 | 20,000 | 0.016 |
| Cello Health | Christopher Jones | 09 Oct 18 | 22,726 | 132 | 29,998 | 22,726 | 0.022 |
| Cloudcall♥ | Simon Cleaver (ceo) | 09 Oct 18 | 5,000 | 109 | 5,450 | 829,061 | 3.433 |
| Computacenter | Gregory Lock (ch) | 10 Oct 18 | 2,000 | 1204 | 24,080 | 617,973 | 0.541 |
| Computacenter | Gregory Lock (ch) | 09 Oct 18 | 41,000 | 1217 | 498,970 | 615,973 | 0.540 |
| Essentra | Paul Forman (ceo) | 05 Oct 18 | 20,000 | 394.8 | 78,960 | 220,000 | 0.084 |
| eve Sleep | James Sturrock | 08 Oct 18 | 52,750 | 20 | 10,550 | 52,750 | 0.038 |
| eve Sleep | Paul Pindar (ch) | 08 Oct 18 | 52,750 | 20 | 10,550 | 6,334,885 | 4.544 |
| F&C Private Equity Trust | Swantje Conrad | 09 Oct 18 | 1,500 | 336.25 | 5,044 | 9,978 | 0.013 |
| Fevertree Drinks | Kevin Havelock | 10 Oct 18 | 1,721 | 2904 | 49,978 | 30,110 | 0.026 |
| Fevertree Drinks | Kevin Havelock | 10 Oct 18 | 1,638 | 2930 | 47,993 | 31,748 | 0.027 |
| Fevertree Drinks | Kevin Havelock | 10 Oct 18 | 2,368 | 2955 | 69,974 | 28,389 | 0.024 |
| Fevertree Drinks♥ | Kevin Havelock | 10 Oct 18 | 675 | 2972 | 20,061 | 34,936 | 0.030 |
| Fevertree Drinks | Kevin Havelock | 10 Oct 18 | 1,173 | 2983 | 34,991 | 34,261 | 0.030 |
| Fevertree Drinks | Kevin Havelock | 10 Oct 18 | 1,340 | 2984 | 39,986 | 33,088 | 0.028 |
| Fidelity China Special Situations | Peter Pleydell-Bouverie | 09 Oct 18 | 10,050 | 196.65 | 19,763 | 88,733 | 0.016 |
| Fidelity China Special Situations♥ | Peter Pleydell-Bouverie | 09 Oct 18 | 5,025 | 196.65 | 9,882 | 93,758 | 0.017 |
| Frontier Developments♥ | James Mitchell | 10 Oct 18 | 15,000 | 1124 | 168,600 | 80,566 | 0.209 |
| Frontier Developments♥ | James Mitchell | 05 Oct 18 | 13,000 | 1189.4 | 154,622 | 32,992 | 0.085 |
| Frontier Developments♥ | James Mitchell | 09 Oct 18 | 18,000 | 1191.3 | 214,434 | 65,566 | 0.170 |
| Frontier Developments♥ | James Mitchell | 08 Oct 18 | 14,574 | 1201.4 | 175,092 | 47,566 | 0.123 |
| ICG Enterprise Trust | Alastair Bruce | 04 Oct 18 | 10,000 | 879.25 | 87,925 | 10,000 | 0.014 |
| Infrastrata | John Wood | 04 Oct 18 | 1,348,427 | 0.587 | 7,915 | 42,044,121 | 3.977 |
| JKX Oil & Gas | Hans Horn | 09 Oct 18 | 100,000 | 43 | 43,000 | 100,000 | 0.058 |
| Learning Technologies | Neil Elton (fd) | 09 Oct 18 | 137,152 | 127.58 | 174,979 | 439,562 | 0.066 |
| Midwich | Stephen Lamb | 09 Oct 18 | 831 | 654.98 | 5,443 | 2,000 | 0.003 |
| Midwich | Stephen Lamb | 09 Oct 18 | 1,000 | 654.98 | 6,550 | 3,000 | 0.004 |
| Midwich | Stephen Lamb | 09 Oct 18 | 2,000 | 657.31 | 13,146 | 5,000 | 0.006 |
| Midwich | Stephen Lamb | 09 Oct 18 | 1,000 | 659.98 | 6,600 | 1,169 | 0.001 |
| Ocado | Luke Jensen | 08 Oct 18 | 12,658 | 789.907 | 99,986 | 25,515 | 0.004 |
| OptiBiotix Health♥ | Sean Christie | 10 Oct 18 | 125,000 | 80 | 100,000 | 125,000 | 0.148 |
| Premaitha Health | Barry Hextall (cfo) | 04 Oct 18 | 100,000 | 10 | 10,000 | 432,518 | 0.109 |
| Regional REIT | Frances Daley | 10 Oct 18 | 30,000 | 100.5332 | 30,160 | 30,000 | 0.008 |
| Scientific Digital Imaging | Isabel Napper | 09 Oct 18 | 35,472 | 42.25 | 14,987 | 35,472 | 0.040 |
| Smiths | Ann Dowling | 09 Oct 18 | 5,813 | 1454.487 | 84,549 | 5,813 | 0.001 |
| Tesco | John Allan (ch) | 04 Oct 18 | 10,000 | 211.7 | 21,170 | 306,082 | 0.003 |
| Tesco | Alan Stewart (cfo) | 05 Oct 18 | 50,000 | 213.7 | 106,850 | 103,829 | 0.001 |
| Tesco | David Lewis (ceo) | 05 Oct 18 | 50,000 | 213.7 | 106,850 | 154,532 | 0.002 |
| Tesco | Alison Platt | 04 Oct 18 | 16,286 | 214.5 | 34,933 | 33,979 | 0.000 |
| Tesco | Mikael Olsson | 04 Oct 18 | 10,000 | 215.4 | 21,540 | 30,254 | 0.000 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Churchill China | David Taylor (fd) | 04 Oct 18 | 2,000 | 1125 | 22,500 | 59,555 | 0.543 |
| Churchill China | David O'Connor (ceo) | 04 Oct 18 | 2,500 | 1125 | 28,125 | 49,020 | 0.447 |
| Infrastrata | Matthew Beardmore | 04 Oct 18 | 1,775,289 | 0.57 | 10,119 | 4,884,282 | 0.462 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party | |||||||
