Shares in Bunzl (BNZL) took a tumble in early November after a note from Morgan Stanley suggested the outsourcing group stood to lose out from the emergence of Amazon’s (US:AMZN) distribution division. Following the release of the damning note, Bunzl’s shares went from trading at around 2,300p to 2,100p in a day, prompting chief executive Frank Van Zanten to buy in near the low at 2,135p.
Amazon has been targeting areas of the distribution market including food service, office supplies and pharmaceuticals. Food service is Bunzl’s largest product area, accounting for close to 30 per cent of revenues in 2016, according to Sharepad. Morgan Stanley argued that Bunzl’s preference for bulk, single-use consumables made it more vulnerable.
Mr Van Zanten clearly disagrees, ploughing £192,150 into the business, upping his stake to 81,542 shares. However, he still owns only a fraction of the shares held by finance director Brian May and director Pat Larmon, who own 105,000 and 131,000, respectively.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Arrow Global | Lee Rochford (ce) | 20 Nov 17 | 24,810 | 400 | 99,240 | 200,164 | 0.114 |
| Bakkavor | Simon Burke (ch) | 17 Nov 17 | 50,000 | 189.75 | 94,875 | 50,000 | 0.009 |
| Bunzl | Frank van Zanten (ce) | 17 Nov 17 | 9,000 | 2,135 | 192,150 | 81,542 | na |
| Cenkos Securities | Andrew Boorman | 21 Nov 17 | 28,000 | 99.65 | 27,902 | 28,000 | 0.049 |
| Cenkos Securities | Andrew Boorman | 21 Nov 17 | 9,500 | 99.65 | 9,467 | 37,500 | 0.066 |
| Cenkos Securities ♥ | Anthony Hotson (ce) | 21 Nov 17 | 27,140 | 99.65 | 27,045 | 60,000 | 0.106 |
| ClearStar Inc | Barney Quinn (ch) | 16 Nov 17 | 39,000 | 38 | 14,820 | 244,555 | 0.674 |
| Cropper (James) ♥ | Mark Cropper (ch) | 20 Nov 17 | 8,194 | 1,647 | 134,955 | 1,747,849 | 18.464 |
| CYBG | Tim Wade | 22 Nov 17 | 20,000 | 321 | 64,200 | 20,000 | 0.002 |
| Derriston Capital | Rodger Sargent (ce) | 22 Nov 17 | 300,000 | 11.05 | 33,150 | 1,450,000 | 5.800 |
| DFS Furniture | Ian Durant (ch) | 21 Nov 17 | 15,000 | 192.5 | 28,875 | 15,000 | 0.007 |
| Essentra | Tommy Breen | 16 Nov 17 | 10,000 | 510 | 51,000 | 10,000 | 0.004 |
| Falanx | Mike Read (ch & ce) | 16 Nov 17 | 350,000 | 5.2 | 18,200 | 2,577,273 | 1.639 |
| Grafenia | Conrad Bona | 22 Nov 17 | 25,000 | 11 | 2,750 | 615,000 | 1.354 |
| Hill & Smith Holdings | JF Lennox (ch) | 22 Nov 17 | 2,500 | 1,296 | 32,400 | 7,500 | 0.010 |
| Hunters Property | Edward Jones (cfo) | 22 Nov 17 | 20,000 | 44.5 | 8,900 | 3,756,129 | 11.806 |
| Hydrodec | Lord Moynihan (ch) | 16 Nov 17 | 471,845 | 2.113 | 9,970 | 11,818,895 | 1.583 |
| Inmarsat | Dr. Abraham Peled | 21 Nov 17 | 8,000 | 480.22 | 38,418 | 38,000 | 0.008 |
| Joules | Marc Dench (cfo) | 22 Nov 17 | 9,400 | 265 | 24,910 | 98,023 | 0.112 |
| Kier | Haydn Mursell (ce) | 17 Nov 17 | 1,905 | 1,047 | 19,945 | 74,435 | 0.076 |
| Kier ♥ | Haydn Mursell (ce) | 17 Nov 17 | 1,912 | 1,046 | 20,000 | 76,347 | 0.078 |
| Kier ♥ | Nigel Brook | 22 Nov 17 | 875 | 1,022 | 8,943 | 22,213 | 0.023 |
| Kier ♥ | Claudio Veritiero | 17 Nov 17 | 1,931 | 1,030 | 19,889 | 25,928 | 0.027 |
| Learning Technologies | Harry Hill | 21 Nov 17 | 15,000 | 56 | 8,400 | 2,236,000 | 0.391 |
| Learning Technologies | Jonathan Satchell (ce) | 21 Nov 17 | 100,000 | 56 | 56,000 | 103,139,995 | 18.052 |
| Marks & Spencer | AJ Norman (ch) | 22 Nov 17 | 33,000 | 300 | 99,000 | 43,000 | 0.003 |
| Mediclinic International | Petrus Jurgens Myburgh (cfo) | 21 Nov 17 | 30,000 | 541.42 | 162,425 | 60,000 | 0.008 |
| Meggitt | Sir Nigel Rudd (ch) | 20 Nov 17 | 1,500 | 476.7 | 7,151 | 123,500 | 0.016 |
| Meggitt ♛ | Sir Nigel Rudd (ch) | 20 Nov 17 | 1,150 | 476.7 | 5,482 | 124,650 | 0.016 |
| Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets | Tony van Kralingen | 17 Nov 17 | 13,000 | 210.55 | 27,371 | 13,000 | 0.001 |
| National Grid † | Pierre Dufour | 20 Nov 17 | 12,500 | 893.07 | 111,634 | 18,500 | 0.001 |
| NEX | Robert Standing | 21 Nov 17 | 10,000 | 584.5 | 58,450 | 15,714 | 0.004 |
| PCI-PAL | William Good (cfo) | 17 Nov 17 | 25,000 | 50.6 | 12,650 | 125,000 | 0.396 |
| Proxama | Mark Slade (ce) | 16 Nov 17 | 76,000,000 | 0.03 | 20,140 | 176,000,000 | 1.280 |
| QinetiQ | David Smith (cfo) | 20 Nov 17 | 14,519 | 206.62 | 29,999 | 53,253 | 0.009 |
| QinetiQ | Mark Harper | 20 Nov 17 | 5,000 | 204.18 | 10,209 | 40,000 | 0.007 |
| QinetiQ | Steve Wadey (ce) | 20 Nov 17 | 50,000 | 206.62 | 103,310 | 102,444 | 0.018 |
| RELX | Marike Van Lier Lels | 16 Nov 17 | 5,000 | 1,705.74 | 85,287 | 5,000 | <0.001 |
| Rotork | Martin Lamb (ch) | 21 Nov 17 | 11,253 | 261 | 29,370 | 118,060 | 0.014 |
| Softcat | Peter Ventress | 16 Nov 17 | 18,202 | 556.57 | 101,307 | 48,202 | 0.024 |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering ♥ | James Pike | 21 Nov 17 | 1,720 | 5,825 | 100,190 | 4,540 | 0.006 |
| U and I ♥ | Matthew Weiner (ce) | 22 Nov 17 | 36,040 | 192 | 69,197 | 336,620 | 0.269 |
| Ultra Electronics Holdings | Amitabh Sharma (fd) | 20 Nov 17 | 846 | 1,170 | 9,898 | 2,573 | 0.003 |
| Ultra Electronics Holdings | Sir Robert Walmsley KCB | 16 Nov 17 | 1,000 | 1,196 | 11,960 | 3,000 | 0.004 |
| Ultra Electronics Holdings | Victoria Hull | 17 Nov 17 | 1,684 | 1,181 | 19,888 | 1,684 | 0.002 |
| Vitesse Media | Anne Donoghue | 16 Nov 17 | 181,363 | 2.75 | 4,987 | 181,363 | 0.105 |
| Wilmington | Paul Dollman | 22 Nov 17 | 15,000 | 224 | 33,600 | 25,000 | 0.029 |
| Wynnstay Properties | Toby Parker (fd) | 20 Nov 17 | 2,000 | 590 | 11,800 | 18,583 | 0.685 |
| Zinc Media * | Nicholas Taylor | 17 Nov 17 | 2,777,780 | 0.9 | 25,000 | 2,777,780 | 0.204 |
| Zinc Media * | David Galan (cfo) | 17 Nov 17 | 2,777,780 | 0.9 | 25,000 | 4,652,547 | 0.342 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Hiscox | Robert Childs (ch) | 21 Nov 17 | 30,000 | 1,416.47 | 424,940 | 1,379,610 | 0.482 |
| Personal Group Hold's ♛ | Ken Rooney | 20 Nov 17 | 4,405 | 465 | 20,483 | 12,719 | 0.041 |
| Schroders | Michael Dobson (ch) | 20 Nov 17 | 22,485 | 3,499 | 786,750 | 203,072 | 0.090 |
| Schroders | Michael Dobson (ch) | 17 Nov 17 | 9,822 | 3,512 | 344,949 | 225,557 | 0.100 |
| TBC Bank | Giorgi Shagidze (cfo) | 22 Nov 17 | 467 | 1,650.20 | 7,706 | 5,103 | 0.010 |
| TBC Bank | Giorgi Shagidze (cfo) | 21 Nov 17 | 28,277 | 1,650.07 | 466,590 | 5,570 | 0.011 |
| TBC Bank | Giorgi Shagidze (cfo) | 20 Nov 17 | 10,392 | 1,664.93 | 173,020 | 33,847 | 0.064 |
| TBC Bank | Giorgi Shagidze (cfo) | 17 Nov 17 | 16,233 | 1,670.83 | 271,226 | 44,239 | 0.084 |
* placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party † depositary receipts ♛ closely associated person(s) | |||||||
