Jonathan Milner has completed his annual post-results sale of shares in Abcam (ABC), the company he founded nearly two decades ago. The sale of just over 3m shares has netted Mr Milner £31.6m – roughly a 510 per cent return on investment (excluding dividends) for the shares he listed on Aim in 2005 at 167p.
Abcam has been one of Aim’s biggest success stories. It sells antibodies to research institutions and drug developers via a relatively simple catalogue business model, which has made it popular among customers and investors alike. The 10 per cent increase in like-for-like revenues in the year to June 2017 precipitated an 18 per cent hike in the share price, despite a price/earnings ratio that consistently exceeds 35 times.
That growth looks unlikely to let up. China and Japan are proving attractive new markets for Abcam to exploit, while the launch of new antibodies derived from rabbits, rather than mice, has helped the group win custom from its competitors. Mr Milner is likely to continue to benefit from this growth: he still owns 10 per cent of the business.
Buys | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
adept4 | Simon Duckworth (ch) | 21 Sep 2017 | 125,000 | 4.50 | 5,625 | 6,050,000 | 2.664 |
Allied Irish Banks♥ | Carolan Lennon | 21 Sep 2017 | 2,000 | 488.80 | 9,776 | 2,000 | 0.000 |
Amerisur Resources♥ | John Wardle (ceo) | 25 Sep 2017 | 1,200,000 | 16.50 | 198,000 | 21,172,505 | 1.745 |
Amerisur Resources | Chris Jenkins | 25 Sep 2017 | 100,000 | 17.25 | 17,250 | 1,050,000 | 0.087 |
Blue Prism | Chris Batterham | 27 Sep 2017 | 14,000 | 1,000.00 | 140,000 | 214,000 | 0.342 |
Bunzl | Lloyd Pitchford | 22 Sep 2017 | 1,000 | 2,204.00 | 22,040 | 1,000 | 0.000 |
Bunzl | Lloyd Pitchford | 22 Sep 2017 | 3,000 | 2,205.00 | 66,150 | 4,000 | 0.001 |
Card Factory♥ | Karen Hubbard (ceo) | 27 Sep 2017 | 21,586 | 286.60 | 61,865 | 86,839 | 0.025 |
Christie | Daniel Prickett | 27 Sep 2017 | 25,000 | 111.00 | 27,750 | 25,000 | 0.094 |
Cropper (James)♥ | Mark Cropper (ch) | 21 Sep 2017 | 11,710 | 1,905.00 | 223,076 | 1,283,904 | 13.563 |
Drax | Will Gardiner | 26 Sep 2017 | 16,046 | 311.57 | 49,995 | 57,392 | 0.014 |
Drax | Andy Koss | 26 Sep 2017 | 15,000 | 307.45 | 46,118 | 52,113 | 0.013 |
Entertainment One | Mitzi Reaugh | 26 Sep 2017 | 7,000 | 261.21 | 18,284 | 7,000 | 0.002 |
HSBC | Mark Tucker | 25 Sep 2017 | 276,000 | 723.51 | 1,996,898 | 276,000 | 0.001 |
Halma | William Rice | 27 Sep 2017 | 9,274 | 1,072.63 | 99,476 | 16,939 | 0.004 |
IndigoVision | George Elliott (ch) | 22 Sep 2017 | 13,000 | 201.00 | 26,130 | 13,000 | 0.171 |
IndigoVision | Chris Lea (cfo) | 22 Sep 2017 | 5,000 | 203.00 | 10,150 | 29,078 | 0.382 |
M Winkworth | Dominic Agace (ceo) | 21 Sep 2017 | 15,000 | 100.95 | 15,143 | 630,628 | 4.953 |
Mercantile Ports and Logistics | Howard Flight | 25 Sep 2017 | 150,000 | 8.25 | 12,375 | 150,000 | 0.036 |
Micro Focus International | Kevin Loosemore (ch) | 22 Sep 2017 | 30,000 | 2,426.20 | 727,860 | 727,889 | 0.167 |
Oxford BioMedica♥ | Andrew Heath | 26 Sep 2017 | 110,511 | 9.05 | 10,001 | 1,607,086 | 0.052 |
PCI-PAL | William Good (cfo) | 22 Sep 2017 | 50,000 | 43.00 | 21,500 | 100,000 | 0.317 |
Primorus Investments | Alastair Clayton | 26 Sep 2017 | 4,000,000 | 0.23 | 9,200 | 57,000,000 | 2.482 |
Primorus Investments | Alastair Clayton | 26 Sep 2017 | 5,000,000 | 0.22 | 11,000 | 62,000,000 | 2.700 |
Restore | Martin Towers | 25 Sep 2017 | 5,000 | 527.90 | 26,395 | 5,000 | 0.004 |
Rose Petroleum | Christopher Eadie | 22 Sep 2017 | 114,655 | 4.35 | 4,987 | 115,599 | 0.118 |
Rose Petroleum | Christopher Eadie | 22 Sep 2017 | 114,787 | 4.34 | 4,982 | 230,386 | 0.236 |
Rose Petroleum | Christopher Eadie | 22 Sep 2017 | 116,803 | 4.27 | 4,987 | 347,189 | 0.356 |
Rose Petroleum | Matthew Idiens (ceo) | 22 Sep 2017 | 125,000 | 4.29 | 5,363 | 720,257 | 0.738 |
Rose Petroleum | Matthew Idiens (ceo) | 22 Sep 2017 | 375,000 | 4.30 | 16,125 | 595,257 | 0.610 |
Senior | David Squires | 21 Sep 2017 | 50,000 | 258.47 | 129,235 | 71,410 | 0.017 |
Symphony International Holdings | Anil Thadani | 22 Sep 2017 | 500,000 | 83.83 | 419,130 | 64,480,742 | 12.597 |
Tatton Asset Management | Lothar Mentel | 27 Sep 2017 | 60,000 | 181.00 | 108,600 | 672,034 | 1.202 |
Trinity Exploration & Production | Angus Winther | 25 Sep 2017 | 408,163 | 12.25 | 50,000 | 23,065,178 | 8.168 |
Vitesse Media* | Simon Stilwell (ceo) | 27 Sep 2017 | 10,486,201 | 2.00 | 209,724 | 17,500,000 | 10.171 |
XLMedia | Ory Weihs (ceo) | 22 Sep 2017 | 36,764 | 136.00 | 49,999 | 3,876,612 | 1.897 |
Sells | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
Abcam | Jonathan Milner | 21 Sep 2017 | 3,107,034 | 1,016.80 | 31,592,322 | 20,888,110 | 10.208 |
boohoo.com | Carol Kane | 27 Sep 2017 | 4,650,000 | 230.10 | 10,699,864 | 46,330,421 | 4.036 |
CLS Holdings | Thomas Lundqvist | 21 Sep 2017 | 750,000 | 202.00 | 1,515,000 | 18,990 | 0.005 |
Ferrexpo | Chris Mawe (cfo) | 22 Sep 2017 | 92,202 | 285.10 | 262,868 | 115,437 | 0.020 |
GVC Holdings | Norbert Teufelberger | 21 Sep 2017 | 230,746 | 844.81 | 1,949,365 | 1,224,530 | 0.413 |
GVC Holdings | Norbert Teufelberger | 22 Sep 2017 | 69,254 | 844.36 | 584,753 | 1,155,276 | 0.390 |
Gamma Communications | Andrew Stone | 21 Sep 2017 | 7,500 | 602.65 | 45,199 | 623,000 | 0.668 |
Gamma Communications | Andrew Stone | 25 Sep 2017 | 35,000 | 600.00 | 210,000 | 588,000 | 0.631 |
LondonMetric Property | Martin McGann | 25 Sep 2017 | 62,500 | 167.50 | 104,688 | 2,705,031 | 0.389 |
LondonMetric Property | Martin McGann | 26 Sep 2017 | 55,106 | 166.10 | 91,531 | 2,649,925 | 0.381 |
LondonMetric Property | Martin McGann | 27 Sep 2017 | 92,764 | 164.80 | 152,875 | 2,557,161 | 0.368 |
Michelmersh Brick Holdings | Martin Warner (ch) | 22 Sep 2017 | 750,000 | 87.50 | 656,250 | 4,638,732 | 5.383 |
Onesavings Bank | Andrew Golding (ceo) | 21 Sep 2017 | 550,000 | 391.97 | 2,155,860 | 1,780,493 | 0.731 |
PureCircle | Christopher Pratt | 21 Sep 2017 | 370 | 461.75 | 1,708 | 640,326 | 0.369 |
PureCircle | Christopher Pratt | 21 Sep 2017 | 25,000 | 462.00 | 115,500 | 640,696 | 0.369 |
PureCircle | Christopher Pratt | 21 Sep 2017 | 30,000 | 465.00 | 139,500 | 665,696 | 0.383 |
PureCircle | Christopher Pratt | 21 Sep 2017 | 44,630 | 460.00 | 205,298 | 595,696 | 0.343 |
Rosslyn Data Technologies | Charles Clark | 25 Sep 2017 | 100,000 | 7.00 | 7,000 | 10,076,415 | 5.356 |
Sportech | Ian Penrose | 21 Sep 2017 | 300,000 | 95.29 | 285,875 | 561,800 | 0.303 |
Stobart Group | Andrew Tinkler | 21 Sep 2017 | 250,000 | 285.00 | 712,500 | 26,976,811 | 7.663 |
* placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party |