Increased consolidation among asset managers has helped propel revenues – and the share price – at Alpha Financial Markets Consulting (AFM). Now, after the expiry of a one-year lock-in period post-float, chief executive Euan Fraser has realised some of these gains by selling off almost £1.5m-worth of shares at the end of November. He retains a 1.34 per cent stake in the company.
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Buy
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223p
A rising regulatory burden for asset managers – which is partly to blame for growing merger and acquisition activity in the sector – boosted revenues for the specialist consultancy by more than third during the first half, helping to propel it into the black post-IPO. International expansion is also high on the agenda, particularly the US, where revenues grew by more than a quarter. Stateside headcount grew by two-thirds during the period.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| AA | Andrew Blowers | 03 Dec 18 | 54,785 | 90.79 | 49,739 | 63,945 | 0.010 |
| CVS | Richard Connell (ch) | 05 Dec 18 | 5,000 | 616 | 30,800 | 115,000 | 0.163 |
| CVS | Richard Connell (ch) | 05 Dec 18 | 5,000 | 616 | 30,800 | 120,000 | 0.170 |
| discoverIE | Malcolm Diamond (ch) | 04 Dec 18 | 5,362 | 372.85 | 19,992 | 19,907 | 0.027 |
| Dunelm | William Reeve | 30 Nov 18 | 2,500 | 550.49 | 13,762 | 15,000 | 0.007 |
| Dunelm | Laura Carr (cfo) | 30 Nov 18 | 25,000 | 552.52 | 138,130 | 25,000 | 0.012 |
| Electrocomponents | Simon Pryce | 30 Nov 18 | 8,000 | 514.6 | 41,168 | 18,000 | 0.004 |
| Ferguson | John Martin (ceo) | 05 Dec 18 | 10,000 | 4,917.01 | 491,701 | 117,229 | 0.051 |
| Fidelity Japan Trust | Sarah MacAulay | 03 Dec 18 | 13,800 | 142.8 | 19,706 | 13,800 | 0.010 |
| Forbidden Technologies | Ian McDonough (ceo) | 29 Nov 18 | 800,000 | 6.2 | 49,600 | 3,062,862 | 1.037 |
| Frontier Developments♥ | James Mitchell | 29 Nov 18 | 5,121 | 851.9 | 43,626 | 110,044 | 0.284 |
| Frontier Developments♥ | James Mitchell | 30 Nov 18 | 10,000 | 867.7 | 86,770 | 120,044 | 0.310 |
| Gooch & Housego | David Bauernfeind | 04 Dec 18 | 1,500 | 1,405 | 21,075 | 1,500 | 0.006 |
| Gooch & Housego | Brian Phillipson | 04 Dec 18 | 1,000 | 1,428 | 14,280 | 1,000 | 0.004 |
| IronRidge Resources* | Neil Herbert | 29 Nov 18 | 500,000 | 20 | 100,000 | 500,000 | 0.162 |
| IronRidge Resources* | Vincent Mascolo (ceo) | 29 Nov 18 | 1,600,000 | 20 | 320,000 | 13,500,000 | 4.369 |
| JPJ | Neil Goulden (ch) | 29 Nov 18 | 10,000 | 583 | 58,300 | 85,000 | 0.114 |
| JPJ | Neil Goulden (ch) | 30 Nov 18 | 10,000 | 585 | 58,500 | 95,000 | 0.128 |
| Just Eat | Helen Weir | 30 Nov 18 | 5,000 | 589.1999 | 29,460 | 5,000 | 0.001 |
| Kingfisher | Claudia Arney | 05 Dec 18 | 27,460 | 238 | 65,355 | 27,460 | 0.001 |
| Location Sciences* | David Rae (cfo) | 29 Nov 18 | 666,667 | 2.25 | 15,000 | 1,166,667 | 0.351 |
| Location Sciences* | Mark Slade (ceo) | 29 Nov 18 | 4,444,444 | 2.25 | 100,000 | 6,204,444 | 1.865 |
| Maistro* | Ian Cleverly (cfo) | 04 Dec 18 | 3,000,000 | 1 | 30,000 | 3,250,000 | 1.152 |
| Maistro* | Laurence Cook (ceo) | 04 Dec 18 | 1,500,000 | 1 | 15,000 | 1,750,000 | 0.620 |
| Maistro* | David Rowe (ch) | 04 Dec 18 | 15,000,000 | 1 | 150,000 | 29,473,286 | 10.448 |
| Maistro* | Richard Rae | 04 Dec 18 | 10,000,000 | 1 | 100,000 | 15,535,714 | 5.507 |
| Maistro* | Preeti Mardia | 04 Dec 18 | 1,500,000 | 1 | 15,000 | 2,857,142 | 1.013 |
| Maistro* | Richard Croft | 04 Dec 18 | 2,000,000 | 1 | 20,000 | 3,928,571 | 1.393 |
| Mineral & Financial Investments | Jacques Vaillancourt (ch) | 30 Nov 18 | 450,000 | 5.463 | 24,584 | 6,664,000 | 19.019 |
| Plastics Capital♥ | Keith Butler-Wheelhouse | 04 Dec 18 | 25,000 | 108 | 27,000 | 369,798 | 0.948 |
| Renewi | Colin Matthews (ch) | 30 Nov 18 | 100,000 | 40 | 40,000 | 350,000 | 0.044 |
| Restaurant Group | Andrew McCue (ceo) | 03 Dec 18 | 34,240 | 145.26 | 49,737 | 154,828 | 0.053 |
| Restaurant Group♥ | Alison Hewitt (ch) | 03 Dec 18 | 13,659 | 145.64 | 19,893 | 67,297 | 0.023 |
| Rio Tinto | Jakob Stausholm | 29 Nov 18 | 15,000 | 3,664.35 | 549,653 | 15,000 | 0.001 |
| Robert Walters | Robert Walters (ceo) | 04 Dec 18 | 29,000 | 514 | 149,060 | 2,267,159 | 3.000 |
| Sage | Jonathan Howell | 05 Dec 18 | 44,000 | 591 | 260,040 | 75,000 | 0.007 |
| Schroder Real Estate IT | Stephen Bligh | 03 Dec 18 | 39,000 | 56.171 | 21,907 | 64,000 | 0.012 |
| Tate & Lyle♥ | Warren Tucker | 05 Dec 18 | 4,321 | 701.894 | 30,329 | 4,321 | 0.001 |
| Taylor Wimpey♥ | Kevin Beeston (ch) | 04 Dec 18 | 112,870 | 131.7759 | 148,735 | 718,432 | 0.022 |
| Taylor Wimpey | Jennifer Daly | 05 Dec 18 | 14,370 | 139.176 | 20,000 | 15,574 | 0.000 |
| Temple Bar Investment Trust | Lesley Sherratt | 05 Dec 18 | 23,500 | 1,182 | 277,770 | 31,000 | 0.046 |
| Ten Lifestyle | Andrew Long | 03 Dec 18 | 65,676 | 29.06 | 19,085 | 4,862,249 | 6.029 |
| Ten Lifestyle | Alex Cheatle (ceo) | 29 Nov 18 | 65,676 | 30 | 19,703 | 11,741,684 | 14.559 |
| Tesco | Melissa Bethell | 30 Nov 18 | 25,335 | 197.35 | 49,999 | 25,335 | 0.000 |
| Thomas Cook | Frank Meysman (ch) | 04 Dec 18 | 373,000 | 21.5661 | 80,442 | 1,070,000 | 0.070 |
| Thomas Cook | Lesley Knox | 04 Dec 18 | 71,259 | 22.34 | 15,919 | 117,359 | 0.008 |
| Thomas Cook | Lesley Knox | 04 Dec 18 | 137,519 | 22.72 | 31,244 | 254,878 | 0.017 |
| Tricorn | Andrew Moss (ch) | 05 Dec 18 | 100,000 | 19.5 | 19,500 | 550,000 | 1.627 |
| Tullow Oil | Dorothy Thompson (ch) | 05 Dec 18 | 26,300 | 190.3 | 50,049 | 26,300 | 0.002 |
| UK Commercial Property REIT | Robert Fowlds | 03 Dec 18 | 50,000 | 81.564 | 40,782 | 50,000 | 0.004 |
| Victrex | Richard Armitage | 05 Dec 18 | 1,010 | 2318 | 23,412 | 2,000 | 0.002 |
| Victrex | Richard Armitage | 04 Dec 18 | 600 | 2404 | 14,424 | 600 | 0.001 |
| Victrex | Jakob Sigurdsson | 04 Dec 18 | 1,950 | 2,515.28 | 49,048 | 5,200 | 0.006 |
| VPC Specialty Lending Investments | Kevin Ingram | 04 Dec 18 | 30,000 | 76 | 22,800 | 64,968 | 0.018 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Alpha Financial Markets Consulting | Euan Fraser (ceo) | 29 Nov 18 | 678,040 | 218 | 1,478,127 | 1,356,081 | 1.341 |
| Hays♥ | Alistair Cox (ceo) | 30 Nov 18 | 1,100,000 | 157.3579 | 1,730,937 | 3,923,527 | 0.269 |
| HSBC | Iain Mackay (fd) | 04 Dec 18 | 71,587 | 674 | 482,496 | 1,246,943 | 0.006 |
| IronRidge Resources | Nicholas Mather | 05 Dec 18 | 907,678 | 19.52 | 177,179 | 2,290,314 | 0.741 |
| Murgitroyd | Kenneth Chrystie | 29 Nov 18 | 3,000 | 550 | 16,500 | 2,500 | 0.028 |
| *Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
