Shares in Babcock International (BAB) have suffered lately. A mid-July trading statement warned of continued delays to defence spending, exacerbated by the restructuring of the government's Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation. A subsequent spending review has prompted analysts to lower full-year forecast revenue growth at Babcock from 4 per cent to 2 per cent.
The group’s shares have been on shaky ground since last year, when concerns over the wider outsourcing sector and weak cash flows dented confidence. Clearly, investors are still nervous. This announcement caused another drop in the share price, erasing almost all of the re-rating seen since the start of the year.
The company directors, however, don’t seem as worried. Shortly after the statement's release, four non-executives upped their stakes. Restrictions on share dealings were in place prior to the announcement, which could explain the purchases' quick succession.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| 3i♥ | Simon Thompson (ch) | 25 Jul 18 | 7,382 | 941.14 | 69,475 | 55,940 | 0.006 |
| 3i | Peter Grosch | 25 Jul 18 | 1,581 | 941.14 | 14,879 | 8,830 | 0.001 |
| 3i | David Hutchison | 25 Jul 18 | 1,581 | 941.14 | 14,879 | 64,547 | 0.007 |
| 3i | Jonathan Asquith | 25 Jul 18 | 1,581 | 941.14 | 14,879 | 47,582 | 0.005 |
| 3i | Stephen Daintith | 25 Jul 18 | 1,581 | 941.14 | 14,879 | 5,822 | 0.001 |
| 3i | Caroline Banszky | 25 Jul 18 | 1,581 | 941.14 | 14,879 | 17,576 | 0.002 |
| Ascential | Duncan Painter (ceo) | 25 Jul 18 | 41,538 | 428.2602 | 177,891 | 3,592,558 | 0.897 |
| Babcock International | Victoire De Margerie | 19 Jul 18 | 1,800 | 711.49 | 12,807 | 4,800 | 0.001 |
| Babcock International | Kjersti Wiklund | 19 Jul 18 | 2,100 | 717.178 | 15,061 | 2,100 | 0.000 |
| Babcock International | Myles Lee | 19 Jul 18 | 2,500 | 728.21 | 18,205 | 12,500 | 0.002 |
| Babcock International | Michael Turner (ch) | 19 Jul 18 | 15,000 | 736.49 | 110,474 | 99,884 | 0.020 |
| Barratt Developments | Richard Akers | 19 Jul 18 | 10,000 | 525.12 | 52,512 | 60,000 | 0.006 |
| Beazley | Robert Stuchbery | 20 Jul 18 | 9,500 | 528.1 | 50,170 | 62,500 | 0.012 |
| Better Capital PCC | Jonathan Moulton | 24 Jul 18 | 500,000 | 30.125 | 150,625 | 11,489,995 | 32.584 |
| BTG | Anne Thorburn | 23 Jul 18 | 15,000 | 499.81 | 74,972 | 15,000 | 0.004 |
| Cloudcall | Gary Browning | 19 Jul 18 | 15,000 | 140 | 21,000 | 65,000 | 0.269 |
| Dunelm | Nick Wilkinson (ceo) | 20 Jul 18 | 48,876 | 508.95 | 248,754 | 87,731 | 0.043 |
| ECSC | David Mathewson (ch) | 25 Jul 18 | 5,000 | 88 | 4,400 | 21,411 | 0.235 |
| ECSC | David Mathewson (ch) | 25 Jul 18 | 3,589 | 95 | 3,410 | 25,000 | 0.275 |
| Future | Alan Newman | 20 Jul 18 | 5,000 | 494.9 | 24,745 | 5,000 | 0.011 |
| Hansard Global | Leonard Polonsky | 20 Jul 18 | 100,000 | 60.8 | 60,800 | 50,825,000 | 36.977 |
| Hansard Global | Leonard Polonsky | 19 Jul 18 | 100,000 | 62.1 | 62,100 | 50,725,000 | 36.904 |
| Hansard Global | Leonard Polonsky | 24 Jul 18 | 100,000 | 62.7 | 62,700 | 50,925,000 | 37.050 |
| Helical | Michael O'Donnell | 19 Jul 18 | 33,500 | 348.5 | 116,748 | 67,000 | 0.056 |
| Henderson European Focus Trust | Alain Dromer | 23 Jul 18 | 2,300 | 1,249 | 28,727 | 4,500 | 0.021 |
| Infrastrata | Graham Lyon (ch) | 24 Jul 18 | 1,889,345 | 0.535 | 10,108 | 5,889,345 | 0.570 |
| JPMorgan Japan Smaller Companies Trust | Robert White | 24 Jul 18 | 10,000 | 438.19 | 43,819 | 35,200 | 0.064 |
| Maistro | Ian Cleverly | 23 Jul 18 | 250,000 | 4 | 10,000 | 250,000 | 0.141 |
| Maistro | Laurence Cook | 23 Jul 18 | 250,000 | 4 | 10,000 | 250,000 | 0.141 |
| New Century AIM VCT | Michael Barnard | 23 Jul 18 | 3,000 | 77 | 2,310 | 1,889,318 | 24.034 |
| NewRiver REIT | Kay Chaldecott | 20 Jul 18 | 35,671 | 279 | 99,522 | 1,818,821 | 0.600 |
| Nostrum Oil & Gas♥ | Simon Byrne | 19 Jul 18 | 20,000 | 182.2861 | 36,457 | 25,000 | 0.013 |
| Oxford BioMedica | Lorenzo Tallarigo (ch) | 23 Jul 18 | 306 | 867 | 2,653 | 46,187 | 0.070 |
| PCF | Timothy Franklin | 25 Jul 18 | 7,363 | 33.95 | 2,500 | 90,173 | 0.042 |
| Plastics Capital♥ | Keith Butler-Wheelhouse | 25 Jul 18 | 25,000 | 114 | 28,500 | 314,798 | 0.807 |
| Proteome Sciences | Martin Diggle | 25 Jul 18 | 171,000 | 2.85 | 4,874 | 55,388,431 | 18.764 |
| Safestyle UK | Alan Lovell | 20 Jul 18 | 100,000 | 35.7 | 35,700 | 100,000 | 0.121 |
| Smart Metering Systems | Miriam Greenwood | 19 Jul 18 | 483 | 674.83 | 3,259 | 16,655 | 0.015 |
| Staffline | John Crabtree (ch) | 25 Jul 18 | 2,375 | 1054 | 25,032 | 25,305 | 0.091 |
| Urban Logistics REIT | Bruce Anderson | 24 Jul 18 | 8,163 | 122.5 | 10,000 | 45,554 | 0.053 |
| Victrex | Jakob Sigurdsson | 25 Jul 18 | 3,250 | 3,072.50 | 99,856 | 3,250 | 0.004 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Dart | Philip Meeson (ch) | 25 Jul 18 | 500,000 | 912.1638 | 4,560,819 | 55,740,000 | 37.510 |
| Independent Investment Trust (The) | Douglas McDougall (ch) | 25 Jul 18 | 25,000 | 770 | 192,500 | 8,024,500 | 14.466 |
| Obtala | Miles Pelham (ch) | 19 Jul 18 | 1,200,000 | 7.85 | 94,200 | 9,007,754 | 2.732 |
| Polar Capital Technology Trust | Peter Hames | 23 Jul 18 | 4,000 | 1,306 | 52,240 | 6,000 | 0.004 |
| Record | James Wood-Collins (ceo) | 24 Jul 18 | 250,000 | 40.7 | 101,750 | 2,543,923 | 1.278 |
| Severfield | Derek Randall | 20 Jul 18 | 141,736 | 82.2 | 116,507 | 469,214 | 0.154 |
*Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
