Shares in Ashtead (AHT) have enjoyed a storming run during the past four months, so it’s understandable that shareholders want to bank some gains. Certainly, some of the tool hire group’s directors think it's an opportune time to sell down part of their stakes. Chief executive Geoff Drabble disposed of more than £19m in shares, leaving him with a 0.079 per cent stake in the group. On the same day, finance director Suzanne Wood and Sunbelt divisional boss Brendan Horgan sold almost £3m and £3.6m in shares, respectively.
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US business Sunbelt has led the way in driving profits in recent years. During the first half of the year, underlying profits were boosted more than a quarter by increased demand resulting from the hurricane season. That led management to raise profit expectations for the full year. What's more, it's allowed for a share buyback programme of between £500m and £1bn, set to take place over the next 18 months.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Accrol* | Gareth Jenkins (ceo) | 11 Dec 17 | 100,000 | 50 | 50,000 | 100,000 | 0.078 |
| Accrol* | Joanne Lake | 11 Dec 17 | 10,000 | 50 | 5,000 | 35,000 | 0.027 |
| Accrol* | Dan Wright | 11 Dec 17 | 200,000 | 50 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 0.155 |
| Accrol* | Peter Cheung (ch) | 11 Dec 17 | 50,000 | 50 | 25,000 | 661,683 | 0.513 |
| Accrol* | Steve Hammett | 11 Dec 17 | 40,000 | 50 | 20,000 | 40,000 | 0.031 |
| AdEPT Telecom♥ | Christopher Kingsman | 12 Dec 17 | 10,000 | 288 | 28,800 | 4,010,000 | 16.919 |
| BP | Ian Davis | 12 Dec 17 | 20,000 | 510.79 | 102,158 | 47,092 | 0.000 |
| Baring Emerging Europe | Calum Thomson | 13 Dec 17 | 4,000 | 784.13 | 31,365 | 4,000 | 0.029 |
| Boohoo.com | Iain McDonald | 08 Dec 17 | 25,000 | 173.75 | 43,438 | 429,000 | 0.037 |
| Boohoo.com | Neil Catto (cfo) | 08 Dec 17 | 14,306 | 174.51 | 24,965 | 2,584,560 | 0.225 |
| CPP♥ | Nick Cooper | 08 Dec 17 | 145,000 | 13.75 | 19,938 | 145,000 | 0.017 |
| CVS | Richard Connell (ch) | 07 Dec 17 | 2,500 | 946.5 | 23,663 | 110,000 | 0.172 |
| CVS | Richard Connell (ch) | 07 Dec 17 | 4,413 | 893.449 | 39,428 | 88,891 | 0.139 |
| Centrica | Iain Conn (ceo) | 12 Dec 17 | 100,000 | 145 | 145,000 | 631,484 | 0.011 |
| CyanConnode | John Cronin (ch) | 12 Dec 17 | 65,514 | 22.875 | 14,986 | 2,213,467 | 1.732 |
| CyanConnode | Harry Berry | 11 Dec 17 | 71,423 | 21 | 14,999 | 624,219 | 0.489 |
| CyanConnode | Simon Smith | 12 Dec 17 | 65,245 | 22.99 | 15,000 | 1,185,080 | 0.928 |
| CyanConnode | Paul Ratcliff | 11 Dec 17 | 71,633 | 20.94 | 15,000 | 162,734 | 0.127 |
| Electrocomponents | Karen Guerra | 07 Dec 17 | 8,100 | 619.2491 | 50,159 | 29,351 | 0.007 |
| Fuller Smith & Turner | Simon Emeny (ceo) | 07 Dec 17 | 3,000 | 935 | 28,050 | 104,505 | 0.325 |
| Globalworth Real Estate Investments | Norbert Sasse | 12 Dec 17 | 114,286 | 875 | 1,000,003 | 114,286 | 0.088 |
| Helios Underwriting | Nigel Hanbury (ceo) | 11 Dec 17 | 741,000 | 131 | 970,710 | 2,436,871 | 16.686 |
| Henderson International Income Trust | Kasia Robinski | 07 Dec 17 | 60,000 | 165 | 99,000 | 60,000 | 0.034 |
| Henderson Opportunities Trust | Peter Jones (ch) | 07 Dec 17 | 1,250 | 1,046.52 | 13,082 | 13,250 | 0.166 |
| International Public Partnerships* | Giles Frost | 08 Dec 17 | 50,000 | 150 | 75,000 | 880,313 | 0.063 |
| International Public Partnerships* | John Le Poidevin | 08 Dec 17 | 33,333 | 150 | 50,000 | 65,333 | 0.005 |
| International Public Partnerships* | Rupert Dorey (ch) | 08 Dec 17 | 200,000 | 150 | 300,000 | 994,614 | 0.071 |
| Jupiter European Opportunities Trust | Virginia Holmes | 13 Dec 17 | 3,750 | 721.15 | 27,043 | 10,000 | 0.009 |
| Law Debenture Corp | Robert Hingley | 11 Dec 17 | 4,870 | 614 | 29,902 | 4,870 | 0.004 |
| Mitchells & Butlers | Tim Jones (fd) | 11 Dec 17 | 12,279 | 260.6 | 31,999 | 91,528 | 0.022 |
| Mitchells & Butlers | Phil Urban (ceo) | 11 Dec 17 | 23,036 | 258 | 59,433 | 74,527 | 0.018 |
| NMC Health♥ | Henry Tompkins | 07 Dec 17 | 4,000 | 2,837.37 | 113,495 | 26,083 | 0.013 |
| NMC Health | Henry Tompkins | 08 Dec 17 | 27,000 | 2,914.01 | 786,783 | 53,083 | 0.026 |
| Saga | Jonathan Hill (cfo) | 11 Dec 17 | 17,400 | 132.581 | 23,069 | 141,017 | 0.013 |
| Shaftesbury | Richard Akers | 08 Dec 17 | 2,000 | 1,000.75 | 20,015 | 2,000 | 0.001 |
| Shaftesbury | Jill Little | 07 Dec 17 | 2,997 | 993.375 | 29,771 | 8,364 | 0.003 |
| Shanta Gold | Luke Leslie | 07 Dec 17 | 765,000 | 4.25 | 32,513 | 938,422 | 0.122 |
| SigmaRoc | David Barrett (ch) | 13 Dec 17 | 115,000 | 43 | 49,450 | 760,032 | 0.556 |
| SigmaRoc | Max Vermorken (ceo) | 13 Dec 17 | 23,000 | 43.5 | 10,005 | 183,032 | 0.134 |
| Standard Life Private Equity Trust | Calum Thomson | 13 Dec 17 | 10,000 | 349.74 | 34,974 | 10,000 | 0.007 |
| Trinity Exploration & Production | James Menzies | 07 Dec 17 | 175,000 | 14.9 | 26,075 | 675,000 | 0.239 |
| Tritax Big Box REIT | Aubrey Adams | 07 Dec 17 | 100,000 | 143.9 | 143,900 | 100,000 | 0.007 |
| Vitesse Media | Fraser Gray | 07 Dec 17 | 556,085 | 2.7 | 15,014 | 556,085 | 0.323 |
| Zegona Communications | Richard Williams | 07 Dec 17 | 17,200 | 142 | 24,424 | 25,287 | 0.013 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Ashtead | Brendan Horgan | 12 Dec 17 | 175,000 | 2,040 | 3,570,000 | 318,874 | 0.064 |
| Ashtead | Geoff Drabble (ceo) | 12 Dec 17 | 941,940 | 2,054 | 19,347,448 | 392,219 | 0.079 |
| Ashtead | Suzanne Wood (fd) | 12 Dec 17 | 145,000 | 2,046 | 2,966,700 | 63,805 | 0.013 |
| Berkeley♥ | Sean Ellis | 11 Dec 17 | 65,000 | 4,102.90 | 2,666,885 | 246,327 | 0.182 |
| Berkeley | Sir John Armitt | 11 Dec 17 | 1,000 | 4,103 | 41,030 | 8,112 | 0.006 |
| Big Yellow | Nicholas Vetch (ch) | 08 Dec 17 | 120,000 | 841 | 1,009,200 | 8,988,366 | 5.670 |
| Physiomics | C Chassagnole | 12 Dec 17 | 600,000 | 8.3 | 49,800 | 417,008 | 0.709 |
| Physiomics | J Millen (ceo) | 12 Dec 17 | 240,000 | 8.3 | 19,920 | 444,641 | 0.756 |
| Sophos | Vin Murria | 13 Dec 17 | 442,728 | 539.1035 | 2,386,762 | 307,272 | 0.066 |
| United Utilities | John Russell Houlden (cfo) | 11 Dec 17 | 4,400 | 819.25 | 36,047 | 69,335 | 0.010 |
| Wandisco* | Yeturu Aahlad | 11 Dec 17 | 345,000 | 550 | 1,897,500 | 2,430,091 | 5.941 |
| Wandisco* | David Richards | 11 Dec 17 | 500,000 | 550 | 2,750,000 | 2,089,233 | 5.108 |
| *Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
