In the days after Micro Focus (MCRO) lost half of its market value, the bulk of the group's board sought to repair faith with the purchase of almost £700,000-worth of shares. This came after the company said sales had fallen at a greater rate than expected since its half-year results in January. Citing one-off transitional issues tied to the integration of HPE’s software arm – bought for $8.8bn (£6.3bn) last September – management cut revenue forecasts for the year to October 2018. Exacerbating the ensuing panic, Chris Hsu – appointed as chief executive of the enlarged company – resigned.
Still, it might inspire confidence among remaining investors that Mr Hsu’s replacement, Stephen Murdoch, purchased 5,390 shares for £49,588 on 21 March. Chairman Kevin Loosemore bought 20,156 shares for £202,779, while Julie Atkins, connected to director Richard Atkins, bought 10,350 shares for £100,728. Other directors bought in, including Darren Roos, who acquired a total of 15,603 shares for £149,198 over three days.
Buys | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
Ariana Resources ♥ | Michael de Villiers (ch) | 15 Mar 18 | 2,000,000 | 1.33 | 26,600 | 42,000,000 | 3.963 |
Arix Bioscience | Jonathan Peacock (ch) | 20 Mar 18 | 90,000 | 225 | 202,500 | 685,056 | 0.508 |
Capital Drilling | David Abery | 16 Mar 18 | 100,000 | 38.9 | 38,860 | 300,000 | 0.222 |
Capital Drilling | David Abery | 16 Mar 18 | 200,000 | 39.3 | 78,500 | 200,000 | 0.148 |
Centaur Media | Neil Johnson (ch) | 21 Mar 18 | 100,000 | 50 | 50,000 | 100,000 | 0.069 |
Centaur Media | Swag Mukerji (cfo) | 21 Mar 18 | 40,000 | 49 | 19,600 | 75,883 | 0.053 |
Cineworld | Alicja Kornasiewicz | 16 Mar 18 | 25,000 | 248 | 61,991 | 75,000 | 0.005 |
Cineworld | Alicja Kornasiewicz | 15 Mar 18 | 50,000 | 248.6 | 124,295 | 50,000 | 0.004 |
Essentra | Mary Reilly | 21 Mar 18 | 7,500 | 452.9 | 33,968 | 7,500 | 0.003 |
Essentra | Paul Forman (ce) | 16 Mar 18 | 20,000 | 461 | 92,200 | 140,000 | 0.053 |
Essentra | Ralf Wunderlich | 21 Mar 18 | 38,700 | 452 | 174,924 | 91,000 | 0.035 |
Euromoney Institutional Investor | Tristan Hillgarth | 15 Mar 18 | 4,000 | 1,270 | 50,800 | 4,000 | 0.004 |
Hutchison China Meditech ♥ | Graeme Jack | 16 Mar 18 | 1,500 | 4,859.4 | 72,890 | 1,500 | 0.002 |
Impellam | Lord Ashcroft (ch) | 19 Mar 18 | 1,136,808 | 555 | 6,309,284 | 3,360,563 | 6.682 |
Jackpotjoy | Neil Goulden (ch) | 21 Mar 18 | 25,000 | 820 | 205,000 | 65,000 | 0.088 |
Jackpotjoy | Simon Wykes | 21 Mar 18 | 5,031 | 820 | 41,254 | 5,031 | 0.007 |
Menzies (John) | Philipp Joeinig | 21 Mar 18 | 30,000 | 649 | 194,700 | 50,000 | 0.060 |
Micro Focus International | Chris Kennedy (cfo) | 21 Mar 18 | 10,000 | 928 | 92,800 | 10,000 | 0.002 |
Micro Focus International | Darren Roos | 21 Mar 18 | 4,926 | 1,009.6 | 49,731 | 8,027 | 0.002 |
Micro Focus International | Kevin Loosemore (ch) | 21 Mar 18 | 20,156 | 1,006.1 | 202,779 | 748,045 | 0.172 |
Micro Focus International | Karen Slatford | 21 Mar 18 | 9,915 | 1,001 | 99,249 | 9,915 | 0.002 |
Micro Focus International | Stephen Murdoch (ce) | 21 Mar 18 | 5,390 | 920 | 49,588 | 5,390 | 0.001 |
Micro Focus International ♥ | Richard Atkins | 21 Mar 18 | 10,350 | 973.2 | 100,728 | 16,736 | 0.004 |
Netcall | Michael Jackson (ch) | 15 Mar 18 | 100,000 | 45 | 45,000 | 800,000 | 0.560 |
Nexus Infrastructure | Geoffrey French (ch) | 21 Mar 18 | 5,000 | 265 | 13,250 | 10,000 | 0.026 |
Petrofac | Ayman Asfari (ce) | 21 Mar 18 | 2,023,800 | 494.1 | 9,999,859 | 64,982,226 | 18.79 |
Renewi | Colin Matthews (ch) | 21 Mar 18 | 50,000 | 80 | 40,000 | 250,000 | 0.031 |
Shire | Thomas Dittrich (cfo) | 15 Mar 18 | 9,400 | 3,228.7 | 303,500 | 9,400 | 0.001 |
St James's Place | Iain Cornish | 20 Mar 18 | 6,500 | 1,136 | 73,840 | 6,500 | 0.001 |
Stratex International | Tim Livesey (ce) | 19 Mar 18 | 1,890,141 | 0.74 | 13,987 | 1,890,141 | 0.404 |
Symphony International Holdings | Anil Thadani | 16 Mar 18 | 52,951 | 83.9 | 44,401 | 65,955,090 | 13.445 |
Symphony International Holdings | Sunil Chandiramani | 16 Mar 18 | 39,713 | 83.9 | 33,301 | 18,970,208 | 3.867 |
TalkTalk Telecom | Sir Howard Stringer | 21 Mar 18 | 46,000 | 110 | 50,600 | 56,000 | 0.005 |
Vectura | Bruno Angelici (ch) | 21 Mar 18 | 75,000 | 76.2 | 57,150 | 237,903 | 0.035 |
Vectura | Dr. Per-Olof Andersson | 21 Mar 18 | 50,000 | 70.0 | 34,995 | 50,000 | 0.007 |
XLMedia | Ory Weihs (ce) | 19 Mar 18 | 33,800 | 179.8 | 60,772 | 4,142,929 | 1.880 |
Sells | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
Berkeley Group Holdings | Karl Whiteman | 20 Mar 18 | 14,500 | 3,817.9 | 553,590 | 258,634 | 0.192 |
Close Brothers | Preben Prebensen (ce) | 15 Mar 18 | 102,631 | 1,499.3 | 1,538,757 | 502,915 | 0.332 |
CML Microsystems | Chris Gurry | 16 Mar 18 | 3,875 | 503.1 | 19,495 | 908,816 | 5.408 |
CML Microsystems | Chris Gurry | 16 Mar 18 | 4,876 | 505 | 24,624 | 912,691 | 5.431 |
CVS | Mike McCollum | 20 Mar 18 | 38,677 | 1,020 | 394,505 | 38,678 | 0.055 |
EVRAZ | Alexander Abramov (ch) | 15 Mar 18 | 73,975 | 442.6 | 327,380 | 301,960,323 | 21.272 |
EVRAZ | Alexander Frolov (ce) | 15 Mar 18 | 36,932 | 442.6 | 163,444 | 150,783,385 | 10.622 |
Genus | Karim Bitar (ce) | 16 Mar 18 | 35,803 | 2,330 | 834,210 | 68,213 | 0.111 |
Investec | Glynn Burger (fd) | 20 Mar 18 | 160,933 | 571.1 | 919,088 | 2,926,129 | 0.437 |
Investec | Glynn Burger (fd) | 19 Mar 18 | 160,933 | 571.5 | 919,732 | 3,087,062 | 0.461 |
Mail.ru | Matthew Hammond (cfo) | 16 Mar 18 | 95,044 | 3,573.5 | 3,396,407 | 0 | 0.000 |
Scholium | Philip Blackwell | 16 Mar 18 | 573,000 | 48 | 275,040 | 1,528,042 | 11.236 |
Vitec Group (The) | Martin Green | 15 Mar 18 | 2,400 | 1,245 | 29,880 | 33,003 | 0.073 |
* placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party SIPP/ISA |