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Paragon non-exec sells into strength

The challenger bank has continued to profit from the professional buy-to-let market
January 25, 2018

Paragon Banking (PAG) has bucked the trend within the buy-to-let mortgage market, prompting a sharp uptick in its share price of late. Some investors may be thinking about following one of the challenger bank’s non-executive directors, Hugo Tudor, who has sold almost £434,000-worth of shares. He retains shares worth £225,0000 in the group.

IC TIP: Buy at 505p

Buy-to-let mortgages continued to drive growth at Paragon during the final three months of 2017. New lending to this market was up 85 per cent on last year at £343m, while lending to the rest of the market was also up by three-quarters. The challenger bank has been helped by its bias towards professional landlords, following the Prudential Regulatory Authority’s introduction of new underwriting requirements for more complex mortgage applications in September.

Its commercial lending products also benefited from increased demand – asset finance loans were up 10 per cent, while motor finance lending jumped 40 per cent to £29m. Deposit balances – an increasingly important source of funding for Paragon – almost doubled. However, it also made £869m in drawing from the Term Funding Scheme.

Buys
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Accrol*Gareth Jenkins (ceo)11 Dec 17100,0005050,000100,0000.078
Accrol*Joanne Lake11 Dec 1710,000505,00035,0000.027
Accrol*Dan Wright11 Dec 17200,00050100,000200,0000.155
Accrol*Peter Cheung (ch)11 Dec 1750,0005025,000661,6830.513
Accrol*Steve Hammett11 Dec 1740,0005020,00040,0000.031
AdEPT Telecom♥Christopher Kingsman12 Dec 1710,00028828,8004,010,00016.919
BP Ian Davis12 Dec 1720,000510.79102,15847,0920.000
Baring Emerging Europe Calum Thomson13 Dec 174,000784.1331,3654,0000.029
Boohoo.com Iain McDonald08 Dec 1725,000173.7543,438429,0000.037
Boohoo.com Neil Catto (cfo)08 Dec 1714,306174.5124,9652,584,5600.225
CPP♥Nick Cooper08 Dec 17145,00013.7519,938145,0000.017
CVS  Richard Connell (ch)07 Dec 172,500946.523,663110,0000.172
CVS  Richard Connell (ch)07 Dec 174,413893.44939,42888,8910.139
Centrica Iain Conn (ceo)12 Dec 17100,000145145,000631,4840.011
CyanConnode  John Cronin (ch)12 Dec 1765,51422.87514,9862,213,4671.732
CyanConnode  Harry Berry11 Dec 1771,4232114,999624,2190.489
CyanConnode  Simon Smith12 Dec 1765,24522.9915,0001,185,0800.928
CyanConnode  Paul Ratcliff11 Dec 1771,63320.9415,000162,7340.127
Electrocomponents Karen Guerra07 Dec 178,100619.249150,15929,3510.007
Fuller Smith & Turner Simon Emeny (ceo)07 Dec 173,00093528,050104,5050.325
Globalworth Real Estate Investments Norbert Sasse12 Dec 17114,2868751,000,003114,2860.088
Helios Underwriting Nigel Hanbury (ceo)11 Dec 17741,000131970,7102,436,87116.686
Henderson International Income Trust Kasia Robinski07 Dec 1760,00016599,00060,0000.034
Henderson Opportunities Trust Peter Jones (ch)07 Dec 171,2501,046.5213,08213,2500.166
International Public Partnerships*Giles Frost08 Dec 1750,00015075,000880,3130.063
International Public Partnerships*John Le Poidevin08 Dec 1733,33315050,00065,3330.005
International Public Partnerships*Rupert Dorey (ch)08 Dec 17200,000150300,000994,6140.071
Jupiter European Opportunities Trust Virginia Holmes13 Dec 173,750721.1527,04310,0000.009
Law Debenture Corp Robert Hingley11 Dec 174,87061429,9024,8700.004
Mitchells & Butlers Tim Jones (fd)11 Dec 1712,279260.631,99991,5280.022
Mitchells & Butlers Phil Urban (ceo)11 Dec 1723,03625859,43374,5270.018
NMC Health♥Henry Tompkins07 Dec 174,0002,837.37113,49526,0830.013
NMC Health Henry Tompkins08 Dec 1727,0002,914.01786,78353,0830.026
Saga Jonathan Hill (cfo)11 Dec 1717,400132.58123,069141,0170.013
Shaftesbury Richard Akers08 Dec 172,0001,000.7520,0152,0000.001
Shaftesbury Jill Little07 Dec 172,997993.37529,7718,3640.003
Shanta Gold Luke Leslie07 Dec 17765,0004.2532,513938,4220.122
SigmaRoc David Barrett (ch)13 Dec 17115,0004349,450760,0320.556
SigmaRoc Max Vermorken (ceo)13 Dec 1723,00043.510,005183,0320.134
Standard Life Private Equity Trust Calum Thomson13 Dec 1710,000349.7434,97410,0000.007
Trinity Exploration & Production James Menzies07 Dec 17175,00014.926,075675,0000.239
Tritax Big Box REIT Aubrey Adams07 Dec 17100,000143.9143,900100,0000.007
Vitesse Media Fraser Gray07 Dec 17556,0852.715,014556,0850.323
Zegona Communications Richard Williams07 Dec 1717,20014224,42425,287

0.013

Sells
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Ashtead  Brendan Horgan12 Dec 17175,0002,0403,570,000318,8740.064
Ashtead  Geoff Drabble (ceo)12 Dec 17941,9402,05419,347,448392,2190.079
Ashtead  Suzanne Wood (fd)12 Dec 17145,0002,0462,966,70063,8050.013
Berkeley♥Sean Ellis11 Dec 1765,0004,102.902,666,885246,3270.182
Berkeley   Sir John Armitt 11 Dec 171,0004,10341,0308,1120.006
Big Yellow  Nicholas Vetch (ch)08 Dec 17120,0008411,009,2008,988,3665.670
Physiomics C Chassagnole12 Dec 17600,0008.349,800417,0080.709
Physiomics J Millen (ceo)12 Dec 17240,0008.319,920444,6410.756
Sophos  Vin Murria13 Dec 17442,728539.10352,386,762307,2720.066
United Utilities  John Russell Houlden (cfo)11 Dec 174,400819.2536,04769,3350.010
Wandisco*Yeturu Aahlad11 Dec 17345,0005501,897,5002,430,0915.941
Wandisco*David Richards11 Dec 17500,0005502,750,0002,089,2335.108
* placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party