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Dart chairman sells near peak

The travel company's executive chairman sold shares to meet "personal financing requirements" close to an all-time high
August 2, 2018

Dart Group (DTG) has been quick to snap up some of the excess capacity left over in the European air travel market by the now-collapsed Monarch airlines. It increased seat capacity by 45 per cent to 11.3m during the year to March. So far the load factor, or the proportion of seats filled, has managed to keep up, increasing from 91.5 per cent in FY2017 to 92.2 per cent. But the European market is a tricky one, and "very competitive pricing" meant average airline ticket yields fell 15 per cent to £73.65.

IC TIP: Sell at 922p

Still, the market was encouraged by the full-year results, sending the shares up to near record highs of around 1,030p. Executive chairman Philip Meeson sold 500,000 ordinary shares at 912p apiece. A spokesperson for Dart said the £4.56m transaction was done to meet “personal financial commitments”, while Mr Meeson still owns just over 55.7m shares, around 37.5 per cent of issued share capital.

Buys       
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
3i♥Simon Thompson (ch)25 Jul 187,382941.1469,47555,9400.006
3i  Peter Grosch25 Jul 181,581941.1414,8798,8300.001
3i  David Hutchison 25 Jul 181,581941.1414,87964,5470.007
3i  Jonathan Asquith25 Jul 181,581941.1414,87947,5820.005
3i  Stephen Daintith25 Jul 181,581941.1414,8795,8220.001
3i  Caroline Banszky25 Jul 181,581941.1414,87917,5760.002
Ascential Duncan Painter (ceo)25 Jul 1841,538428.2602177,8913,592,5580.897
Babcock International  Victoire De Margerie19 Jul 181,800711.4912,8074,8000.001
Babcock International  Kjersti Wiklund19 Jul 182,100717.17815,0612,1000.000
Babcock International  Myles Lee19 Jul 182,500728.2118,20512,5000.002
Babcock International  Michael Turner (ch)19 Jul 1815,000736.49110,47499,8840.020
Barratt Developments Richard Akers19 Jul 1810,000525.1252,51260,0000.006
Beazley Robert Stuchbery20 Jul 189,500528.150,17062,5000.012
Better Capital PCC Jonathan Moulton24 Jul 18500,00030.125150,62511,489,99532.584
BTG Anne Thorburn23 Jul 1815,000499.8174,97215,0000.004
Cloudcall  Gary Browning19 Jul 1815,00014021,00065,0000.269
Dunelm  Nick Wilkinson (ceo)20 Jul 1848,876508.95248,75487,7310.043
ECSC  David Mathewson (ch)25 Jul 185,000884,40021,4110.235
ECSC  David Mathewson (ch)25 Jul 183,589953,41025,0000.275
Future Alan Newman20 Jul 185,000494.924,7455,0000.011
Hansard Global Leonard Polonsky 20 Jul 18100,00060.860,80050,825,00036.977
Hansard Global Leonard Polonsky 19 Jul 18100,00062.162,10050,725,00036.904
Hansard Global Leonard Polonsky 24 Jul 18100,00062.762,70050,925,00037.050
Helical Michael O'Donnell19 Jul 1833,500348.5116,74867,0000.056
Henderson European Focus Trust Alain Dromer23 Jul 182,3001,24928,7274,5000.021
Infrastrata Graham Lyon (ch)24 Jul 181,889,3450.53510,1085,889,3450.570
JPMorgan Japan Smaller Companies Trust Robert White24 Jul 1810,000438.1943,81935,2000.064
Maistro Ian Cleverly 23 Jul 18250,000410,000250,0000.141
Maistro Laurence Cook 23 Jul 18250,000410,000250,0000.141
New Century AIM VCT Michael Barnard23 Jul 183,000772,3101,889,31824.034
NewRiver REIT Kay Chaldecott20 Jul 1835,67127999,5221,818,8210.600
Nostrum Oil & Gas♥Simon Byrne19 Jul 1820,000182.286136,45725,0000.013
Oxford BioMedica Lorenzo Tallarigo (ch)23 Jul 183068672,65346,1870.070
PCF  Timothy Franklin25 Jul 187,36333.952,50090,1730.042
Plastics Capital♥Keith Butler-Wheelhouse25 Jul 1825,00011428,500314,7980.807
Proteome Sciences Martin Diggle25 Jul 18171,0002.854,87455,388,43118.764
Safestyle UK Alan Lovell20 Jul 18100,00035.735,700100,0000.121
Smart Metering Systems Miriam Greenwood  19 Jul 18483674.833,25916,6550.015
Staffline  John Crabtree (ch)25 Jul 182,375105425,03225,3050.091
Urban Logistics REIT Bruce Anderson24 Jul 188,163122.510,00045,5540.053
Victrex Jakob Sigurdsson25 Jul 183,2503,072.5099,8563,2500.004
Sells       
CompanyDirectorDateNo of sharesPrice (p)Value (£)Holding (shares)Holding (%)
Dart  Philip Meeson (ch)25 Jul 18500,000912.16384,560,81955,740,00037.510
Independent Investment Trust (The) Douglas McDougall (ch)25 Jul 1825,000770192,5008,024,50014.466
Obtala Miles Pelham (ch)19 Jul 181,200,0007.8594,2009,007,7542.732
Polar Capital Technology Trust Peter Hames23 Jul 184,0001,30652,2406,0000.004
Record James Wood-Collins (ceo)24 Jul 18250,00040.7101,7502,543,9231.278
Severfield Derek Randall20 Jul 18141,73682.2116,507469,2140.154
* placing/tender/open offer ♥ spouse/connected party