- Non-executive directors bought in after shares dipped
- Momentum still not lost
Two Ocado (OCDO) directors bought shares in the company last week, taking advantage of a wobble in the share price following the release of a mixed 2020 full year result. Non-executive directors Richard Haythornthwaite and John Martin both bought around £100,000 worth of shares, after the market knocked 5 per cent off the group’s value over the course of last week.
The highly rated grocer, which now bills itself as a technology company and has a valuation to match, failed to impress its shareholders. Adjusted cash profits at its retail business, a joint venture with Marks & Spencer (MKS), more than tripled, but the group logged deeper losses at international solutions, the division which sells its proprietary warehouse software and is viewed as its long-term driver for growth.
Pre-tax losses narrowed to £44m compared to £215m the year prior, and the company is making decent gains in market share. Ocado’s addressable markets are worth £2.8tn, of which its partners already represent 7.5 per cent - but we would have expected that 2020 would have been a bumper year for adding new corporate customers to its automated warehouse business. The absence of new partnership announcements was conspicuous.
Ocado did not offer a comment on Haythornthwaite and Martin’s transactions, but the new buys might help shore up confidence in the sustainability of the shares’ current trajectory - although at time of writing they have not yet recovered to their level at the beginning of last week. Excitement about rapid growth in the online grocery market was their main driver last year, but it is still not clear if Ocado’s technology will be a hit with corporate clients in the long run. Hold at 2,609p.
Buys | ||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) |
DCC | Cormac McCarthy | 11 Feb 2021 | 5,710 | 45,678 |
Halma | Dame Louise Makin | 09 Feb 2021 | 2,459 | 245,906 |
N Brown | Joshua Jacob Moshe Alliance | 11 Feb 2021 | 65 | 5,101,720 |
N Brown | Joshua Jacob Moshe Alliance | 12 Feb 2021 | 65 | 2,175,473 |
Ocado | Richard Haythornthwaite | 10 Feb 2021 | 2,679 | 99,809 |
Ocado | John Martin | 12 Feb 2021 | 2,591 | 99,990 |
Safestyle | Mike Gallacher (ce) | 10 Feb 2021 | 40.5 | 48,697 |
St. Modwen Properties | Sarwjit Sambhi (ce) | 12 Feb 2021 | 391 | 52,025 |
Sells | ||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) |
Ashmore | Mark Coombs (ce) | 10 Feb 2021 | 474 | 40,290,000 |
AVEVA Group | David Ward (fd) | 12 Feb 2021 | 3,777 | 152,264 |
CMC Markets | Clare Leslie Salmon | 10 Feb 2021 | 409 | 50,008 |
Dunelm* | Will Adderley | 16 Feb 2021 | 1,280 | 192,000,000 |
Hargreaves Lansdown* | Peter Hargreaves | 17 Feb 2021 | 1,535 | 300,000,000 |
Manolete | Steven Cooklin (ce) | 09 Feb 2021 | 180 | 450,000 |
Scapa Group | Wendy Baker | 09 Feb 2021 | 222 | 31,718 |
Sirius Real Estate | Andrew Coombs (ce) | 12 Feb 2021 | 91 | 408,479 |
* Accelerated bookbuilds of 19.5m ords (HL) and 15m ords (DNLM) |