Jonathon Milner’s annual sale of a chunk of his stake in Abcam (ABC) looks very different this year compared with last. In 2017, when the founder – who is now deputy chairman – sold £31.6m at 1,016p, the market seemed confident that those shares would be worth quite a lot more one year on. They were right. This year's £14m disposal was made at 1,441p a share. But, for the first time in several years, investors seem less certain of continued momentum at Abcam.
IC TIP:
Hold
at
1267p
That’s partly because the shares' forward price/earnings ratio of 40 times means the group must do something pretty special to justify the share price – especially as costs of the group’s new cloud computing system keep rising. In the 2019 financial year, adjusted cash profit (Ebitda) margins are expected to fall back to 36 per cent, from 37.9 per cent in FY2018.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| 600 | Stephen Fiamma | 28 Sep 18 | 100,000 | 19 | 19,000 | 100,000 | 0.089 |
| AA | Simon Breakwell (ceo) | 28 Sep 18 | 102,018 | 97.5 | 99,468 | 244,267 | 0.040 |
| AA | Suzi Williams | 28 Sep 18 | 15,021 | 100 | 15,021 | 15,021 | 0.002 |
| AA | Mark Brooker | 27 Sep 18 | 19,221 | 104 | 19,990 | 19,221 | 0.003 |
| Be Heard | David Morrison (ch) | 28 Sep 18 | 1,000,000 | 1.38 | 13,800 | 3,142,857 | 0.302 |
| Be Heard | David Poutney | 28 Sep 18 | 1,000,000 | 1.38 | 13,800 | 12,692,857 | 1.220 |
| Clinigen* | Anne Hyland | 01 Oct 18 | 4,142 | 845 | 35,000 | 4,142 | 0.003 |
| Clinigen* | Shaun Chilton (ceo) | 01 Oct 18 | 7,101 | 845 | 60,003 | 320,044 | 0.243 |
| Compass | Ireena Vittal | 27 Sep 18 | 1,616 | 1,689 | 27,294 | 5,241 | 0.000 |
| CPP | Jason Walsh (ceo) | 02 Oct 18 | 316,243 | 9.6 | 30,359 | 366,243 | 0.043 |
| Fidelity Japan Trust | David Graham | 03 Oct 18 | 18,000 | 167.9 | 30,222 | 18,000 | 0.013 |
| Gunsynd | Donald Strang | 03 Oct 18 | 101,180,168 | 0.03 | 30,354 | 158,238,991 | 3.241 |
| Infrastrata | Graham Lyon (ch) | 02 Oct 18 | 4,544,280 | 0.5499 | 24,989 | 13,532,799 | 1.280 |
| Infrastrata | John Wood | 03 Oct 18 | 1,736,293 | 0.58 | 10,070 | 40,695,694 | 3.849 |
| Low & Bonar | Peter Bertram | 02 Oct 18 | 75,150 | 39.92 | 30,000 | 75,150 | 0.023 |
| Melrose Industries | Charlotte Twyning | 03 Oct 18 | 36,000 | 196.88 | 70,877 | 36,000 | 0.001 |
| Mucklow (A & J) | James Retallack | 28 Sep 18 | 5,000 | 545 | 27,250 | 5,000 | 0.008 |
| National Express | Dean Finch (ceo) | 28 Sep 18 | 5,200 | 389.88 | 20,274 | 254,683 | 0.050 |
| NCC | Jennifer Duvalier | 01 Oct 18 | 9,500 | 202.2 | 19,209 | 9,500 | 0.003 |
| OPG Power Ventures | Dmitri Tsvetkov (cfo) | 28 Sep 18 | 250,000 | 10.7 | 26,750 | 400,000 | 0.112 |
| OPG Power Ventures | Dmitri Tsvetkov (cfo) | 01 Oct 18 | 601,787 | 10.7 | 64,391 | 1,001,787 | 0.281 |
| OPG Power Ventures | Jeremy Warner-Allen | 02 Oct 18 | 500,000 | 11.95 | 59,750 | 803,729 | 0.226 |
| OPG Power Ventures | Jeremy Warner-Allen | 03 Oct 18 | 196,271 | 12.3 | 24,141 | 1,000,000 | 0.281 |
| Origin Enterprises | Sean Coyle | 02 Oct 18 | 7,000 | 5.7 | 39,900 | 7,000 | 0.006 |
| Petrofac | René Médori (ch) | 02 Oct 18 | 3,030 | 660 | 19,998 | 6,110 | 0.002 |
| Pittards | Stephen Yapp (ch) | 01 Oct 18 | 15,000 | 75.98 | 11,397 | 99,111 | 0.714 |
| Renewi | Toby Woolrych (fd) | 03 Oct 18 | 45,709 | 54.395 | 24,863 | 313,751 | 0.039 |
| Renewi | Peter Dilnot (ceo) | 03 Oct 18 | 100,000 | 54.5 | 54,500 | 365,280 | 0.046 |
| Smiths | Olivier Bohuon | 27 Sep 18 | 2,972 | 1,496 | 44,461 | 2,972 | 0.001 |
| SpaceandPeople | George Watt | 28 Sep 18 | 95,000 | 21 | 19,950 | 120,000 | 0.615 |
| Spire Healthcare | Jitesh Sodha | 01 Oct 18 | 50,500 | 146.98 | 74,225 | 50,500 | 0.013 |
| Standard Life Aberdeen | Richard Mully | 02 Oct 18 | 10,000 | 299 | 29,900 | 102,990 | 0.003 |
| Tesco | John Allan (ch) | 03 Oct 18 | 12,000 | 211.7 | 25,404 | 296,082 | 0.003 |
| Time Out | Peter Dubens (ch) | 27 Sep 18 | 300,302 | 83 | 249,251 | 1,750,302 | 1.311 |
| Topps Tiles | Robert Parker (fd) | 03 Oct 18 | 35,000 | 67.5 | 23,625 | 452,895 | 0.231 |
| Union Jack Oil | Joseph O'Farrell | 03 Oct 18 | 35,294,117 | 0.085 | 30,000 | 271,811,238 | 4.683 |
| Union Jack Oil | Raymond Godson | 03 Oct 18 | 11,764,705 | 0.085 | 10,000 | 42,529,411 | 0.733 |
| VPC Specialty Lending Investments♥ | Richard Levy | 03 Oct 18 | 68,741 | 80.4 | 55,268 | 3,216,554 | 0.882 |
| Warehouse REIT | Aimée Pitman | 27 Sep 18 | 76,000 | 98.3 | 74,708 | 151,000 | 0.091 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Abcam | Jonathan Milner | 28 Sep 18 | 1,000,000 | 1,441.30 | 14,413,000 | 19,892,268 | 9.698 |
| Abcam♥ | Jonathan Milner | 28 Sep 18 | 17,243 | 1,441.30 | 248,523 | 19,805,025 | 9.656 |
| Churchill China | James Roper | 02 Oct 18 | 10,000 | 1,100 | 110,000 | 1,000,835 | 9.121 |
| Gym Group (The) | Paul Gilbert | 28 Sep 18 | 200,000 | 310 | 620,000 | 687,776 | 0.499 |
| Manx Telecom | Gary Lamb | 02 Oct 18 | 30,000 | 182.5 | 54,750 | 456,329 | 0.397 |
| Manx Telecom | Gary Lamb | 01 Oct 18 | 50,000 | 185 | 92,500 | 486,329 | 0.423 |
| Manx Telecom | Gary Lamb | 28 Sep 18 | 80,000 | 185.07 | 148,056 | 536,329 | 0.466 |
| Personal Group | Mark Scanlon (ceo) | 03 Oct 18 | 150,000 | 522.375 | 783,563 | 2,765 | 0.009 |
| Personal Group | Michael Dugdale (cfo) | 03 Oct 18 | 15,063 | 522.375 | 78,685 | 54,469 | 0.176 |
| Personal Group | Michael Dugdale (cfo) | 03 Oct 18 | 8,882 | 535 | 47,519 | 45,587 | 0.148 |
| Phoenix | Wendy Mayall | 01 Oct 18 | 6,666 | 679.45 | 45,292 | 30,000 | 0.004 |
| Town Centre Securities | Michael Ziff | 02 Oct 18 | 50,000 | 270 | 135,000 | 2,559,513 | 4.815 |
| United Utilities | Russ Houlden (cfo) | 01 Oct 18 | 44,954 | 717.514 | 322,551 | 54,904 | 0.008 |
| *Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
