Stephen Fenby, managing director of Midwich (MIDW), has offloaded a beneficial holding of 1m shares in the audio/visual distributor, generating £6.2m in the process. The sale, which included holdings of family members, was conducted a fortnight after a trading update which detailing a 28 per cent increase in revenues, combined with an improving gross margin, and cash generation ahead of management expectations.
An improving gross margin will draw attention from analysts, particularly given that Midwich continues to upscale through acquisitions. There are always costs associated with integrating acquired assets, but the group operates in niche markets and management appears to have a sharply defined perspective on which kind of businesses (and which locales) are likely to generate returns in line with the group average. New Zealand-based Wired Ltd provides a case in point, while the recent purchase of UK distributor Sound Technology and majority stakes in Netherlands-based Gebroeders van Domburg and Iberia-focused Earpro have proved wholly beneficial, with the acquired assets performing either "in line or ahead” of expectations.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Aggregated Micro Power | Neil Eckert (ch) | 30 Jan 18 | 10,000 | 90 | 9,000 | 7,845,700 | 18.165 |
| Amati VCT 2* | Michael Killingley | 29 Jan 18 | 2,864 | 174.56 | 4,999 | 52,697 | 0.146 |
| Arden Partners | Donald Brown (ceo) | 25 Jan 18 | 50,000 | 45 | 22,500 | 250,000 | 0.807 |
| Arden Partners | Donald Brown (ceo) | 26 Jan 18 | 50,000 | 44.75 | 22,375 | 300,000 | 0.968 |
| Beeks Financial Cloud | Mark Cubitt (ch) | 25 Jan 18 | 70,707 | 49.5 | 35,000 | 70,707 | 0.144 |
| Best of the Best | David Firth | 31 Jan 18 | 5,000 | 260 | 13,000 | 5,000 | 0.049 |
| Blue Prism* | Chris Batterham | 30 Jan 18 | 5,238 | 1,260 | 65,999 | 149,238 | 0.227 |
| Blue Prism* | Ijoma Maluza (cfo) | 30 Jan 18 | 634 | 1,260 | 7,988 | 634 | 0.001 |
| Blue Prism* | Kenneth Lever | 30 Jan 18 | 5,592 | 1,260 | 70,459 | 37,643 | 0.057 |
| Blue Prism* | Charmaine Eggberry | 30 Jan 18 | 26,717 | 1,260 | 336,634 | 356,717 | 0.542 |
| British Empire Trust | Calum Thomson | 31 Jan 18 | 1,400 | 738.7 | 10,342 | 7,600 | 0.007 |
| British Empire Trust | Anja Balfour | 26 Jan 18 | 3,000 | 740.74 | 22,222 | 3,000 | 0.003 |
| CC Japan Income & Growth Trust | Harry Wells (ch) | 29 Jan 18 | 10,000 | 164.5 | 16,450 | 40,000 | 0.037 |
| CC Japan Income & Growth Trust | Peter Wolton | 29 Jan 18 | 25,000 | 164.5 | 41,125 | 60,000 | 0.055 |
| Carclo | Mark Rollins | 25 Jan 18 | 30,000 | 84.23 | 25,269 | 100,000 | 0.136 |
| CyanConnode | John Cronin (ch) | 25 Jan 18 | 200,000 | 14.8 | 29,600 | 2,413,467 | 1.886 |
| Diageo | Javier Ferrán (ch) | 26 Jan 18 | 30,000 | 2541 | 762,300 | 145,637 | 0.006 |
| EU Supply | Fredrik Wallmark (cfo) | 25 Jan 18 | 10,000 | 12.5 | 1,250 | 20,000 | 0.030 |
| EU Supply | David Cutler (ch) | 30 Jan 18 | 60,000 | 14.75 | 8,850 | 502,477 | 0.742 |
| EU Supply | Thomas Beergrehn (ceo) | 26 Jan 18 | 65,000 | 13.5 | 8,775 | 9,045,903 | 13.359 |
| Edinburgh Investment Trust (The) | Glen Suarez (ch) | 26 Jan 18 | 30,000 | 700 | 210,000 | 37,000 | 0.019 |
| FFI | Antony Mitchell | 29 Jan 18 | 250,000 | 88 | 220,000 | 250,000 | 0.159 |
| HICL Infrastructure Co | Frank Nelson | 26 Jan 18 | 15,000 | 140.1447 | 21,022 | 51,214 | 0.003 |
| HICL Infrastructure Co | Ian Russell (ch) | 26 Jan 18 | 25,000 | 139.83 | 34,958 | 94,353 | 0.005 |
| HICL Infrastructure Co | Susie Farnon | 29 Jan 18 | 17,200 | 144.138 | 24,792 | 39,931 | 0.002 |
| Henderson Opportunities Trust | Peter Jones (ch) | 30 Jan 18 | 750 | 1,099.10 | 8,243 | 14,000 | 0.175 |
| Mobile Tornado | Peter Wilkinson | 31 Jan 18 | 2,000,000 | 5 | 100,000 | 38,145,141 | 12.782 |
| Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust | Richard Curling | 31 Jan 18 | 5,000 | 841.1 | 42,055 | 5,000 | 0.030 |
| Mortgage Advice Bureau♥ | Nathan Imlach | 31 Jan 18 | 244 | 593 | 1,447 | 26,651 | 0.052 |
| Mortgage Advice Bureau♥ | Richard Verdin | 31 Jan 18 | 213 | 593 | 1,263 | 22,424 | 0.044 |
| Nexus Infrastructure | Geoffrey French (ch) | 30 Jan 18 | 5,000 | 266 | 13,300 | 5,000 | 0.013 |
| PCF | Christine Higgins | 31 Jan 18 | 19,500 | 26.25 | 5,119 | 19,500 | 0.009 |
| Phoenix Global Mining | Andre Cohen | 30 Jan 18 | 100,000 | 4.4 | 4,400 | 1,456,669 | 0.634 |
| Phoenix Global Mining♥ | Andre Cohen | 30 Jan 18 | 100,000 | 4.4 | 4,400 | 1,556,669 | 0.678 |
| Phoenix Global Mining | Marcus Edwards-Jones (ch) | 30 Jan 18 | 107,100 | 4.4 | 4,712 | 2,805,886 | 1.221 |
| Porta Communications | John Foley (ch) | 31 Jan 18 | 4,700,000 | 3.5 | 164,500 | 5,665,079 | 1.240 |
| Premier Oil | Roy Franklin (ch) | 31 Jan 18 | 60,000 | 83.11 | 49,866 | 60,000 | 0.008 |
| Produce Investments | Barry Clapham | 25 Jan 18 | 1,299 | 175 | 2,273 | 5,932,765 | 22.039 |
| Renishaw | Kathryn Durrant | 25 Jan 18 | 198 | 5,035 | 9,969 | 198 | 0.000 |
| Renishaw | William Lee | 26 Jan 18 | 400 | 4,752 | 19,008 | 1,000 | 0.001 |
| Standard Life Private Equity Trust | Christina McComb | 30 Jan 18 | 2,750 | 345 | 9,488 | 7,136 | 0.005 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Blue Prism* | Alastair Bathgate (ceo) | 30 Jan 18 | 595,238 | 1,260 | 7,499,999 | 5,063,224 | 7.689 |
| Gear4music | Dean Murray | 31 Jan 18 | 5,000 | 656 | 32,800 | 194,520 | 0.932 |
| Liontrust Asset Management♥ | Adrian Collins (ch) | 30 Jan 18 | 200,000 | 590 | 1,180,000 | 6,249 | 0.013 |
| LondonMetric Property | Patrick Vaughan (ch) | 25 Jan 18 | 165,255 | 179.7 | 296,963 | 13,096,745 | 1.878 |
| LondonMetric Property | Patrick Vaughan (ch) | 26 Jan 18 | 134,745 | 180.1 | 242,676 | 12,962,000 | 1.859 |
| Midwich♥ | Stephen Fenby | 26 Jan 18 | 1,000,000 | 620 | 6,200,000 | 21,280,000 | 26.785 |
| Personal Assets Trust | Frank Rushbrook | 29 Jan 18 | 110 | 40,800 | 44,880 | 13,615 | 0.640 |
| Staffline | Andrew Hogarth | 30 Jan 18 | 1,006,189 | 1,020 | 10,263,128 | 507,440 | 1.822 |
| Superdry | Julian Dunkerton | 26 Jan 18 | 1,000,000 | 1,780 | 17,800,000 | 20,696,788 | 25.355 |
| * placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party | |||||||
