Following on from a hefty sale last September, John Graham, chief executive of Medica (MGP), has liquidated nearly half of his stake ahead of his departure from the teleradiology (transmission of X-ray/CT/MRI) specialist. His successor, Dr Stuart Quin, will be taking over the reins at the beginning of September. He joins from Synlab, an international laboratory diagnostic services provider, and among other attributes, he will bring a wealth of experience working in partnership with the NHS. A plus point on the face of it, although Medica has come under criticism in the past due to a perceived over-reliance on publicly funded revenue streams.
For investors, this presents something of a dilemma, for even though Medica is engaged in a fast-growing segment of the healthcare market, with significant technical barriers to entry, its chief customer will always be under pressure to rationalise its cost base. Backers of the stock will argue this is precisely why its investment case is compelling. Its services save the NHS money by, say, enabling radiology departments to manage their workflow more efficiently.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Arc Minerals | Nicholas Von Schirnding (ch) | 7 May 2019 | 230,000 | 2.53 | 5,819 | 17,080,532 | 2.420 |
| AstraZeneca | Marc Dunoyer (cfo) | 7 May 2019 | 8,500 | 5,800 | 493,000 | 145,581 | 0.011 |
| Barclays♥ | Timothy Breedon | 3 May 2019 | 55,000 | 163.86 | 90,123 | 106,815 | 0.001 |
| Brown (N) | Stephen Johnson (ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 11,631 | 117.841 | 13,706 | 30,931 | 0.011 |
| Brown (N) | Stephen Johnson (ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 8,975 | 122.108 | 10,959 | 39,906 | 0.014 |
| Brown (N) | Stephen Johnson (ceo) | 7 May 2019 | 7,265 | 138.016 | 10,027 | 47,171 | 0.017 |
| Costain♥ | Jacqueline de Rojas | 2 May 2019 | 1,201 | 332.78 | 3,997 | 4,395 | 0.004 |
| Diverse Income Trust (The) | Calum Thomson | 2 May 2019 | 16,816 | 94.592 | 15,907 | 53,591 | 0.014 |
| Domino's Pizza | Ian Bull | 7 May 2019 | 10,000 | 244 | 24,400 | 10,000 | 0.002 |
| Domino's Pizza | David Bauernfeind (cfo) | 8 May 2019 | 12,000 | 260.385 | 31,246 | 20,000 | 0.004 |
| Downing Strategic Micro-Cap | Andrew Griffiths | 7 May 2019 | 20,484 | 72.8 | 14,912 | 46,645 | 0.084 |
| Downing Strategic Micro-Cap | Hugh Aldous (ch) | 3 May 2019 | 25,000 | 74 | 18,500 | 200,000 | 0.361 |
| Drax | Andrew Skelton (cfo) | 7 May 2019 | 15,000 | 331.316 | 49,697 | 15,000 | 0.004 |
| EnQuest | Helmut Langanger | 7 May 2019 | 87,302 | 20 | 17,460 | 500,000 | 0.030 |
| Essentra | Paul Forman (ceo) | 7 May 2019 | 20,000 | 392.8 | 78,560 | 334,342 | 0.127 |
| Galileo Resources* | Colin Bird (ch and ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 6,000,000 | 0.5 | 30,000 | 55,435,000 | 13.701 |
| Galileo Resources* | John Wollenberg | 2 May 2019 | 600,000 | 0.5 | 3,000 | 6,721,341 | 1.661 |
| Genel Energy | Bill Higgs (ceo) | 8 May 2019 | 19,424 | 211.07 | 40,998 | 35,472 | 0.013 |
| Genel Energy | Bill Higgs (ceo) | 8 May 2019 | 16,048 | 211.7771 | 33,986 | 16,048 | 0.006 |
| Howden Joinery | Karen Caddick | 3 May 2019 | 3,000 | 518.406 | 15,552 | 6,000 | 0.001 |
| ICG Enterprise Trust | Jane Tufnell | 2 May 2019 | 10,000 | 878 | 87,800 | 10,000 | 0.014 |
| International Personal Finance | John Mangelaars | 7 May 2019 | 15,000 | 174.35 | 26,153 | 50,000 | 0.022 |
| International Personal Finance | Bronwyn Syiek | 3 May 2019 | 20,000 | 176.25 | 35,250 | 20,000 | 0.009 |
| Invesco Income Growth Trust | Hugh Twiss (ch) | 3 May 2019 | 5,000 | 273.35 | 13,668 | 22,015 | 0.038 |
| Kenmare Resources | Steven McTiernan (ch) | 8 May 2019 | 52,631 | 190 | 99,999 | 169,846 | 0.155 |
| Mpac | Andrew Kitchingman (ch) | 3 May 2019 | 6,682 | 149 | 9,956 | 13,133 | 0.065 |
| Octagonal | John Gunn (ch) | 3 May 2019 | 1,700,000 | 1.4788 | 25,140 | 300,744,931 | 52.894 |
| Pittards | Richard Briere (cfo) | 4 May 2019 | 2,500 | 62 | 1,550 | 2,500 | 0.018 |
| Pittards | Reginald Hankey (ceo) | 7 May 2019 | 7,000 | 64.9 | 4,543 | 247,033 | 1.779 |
| Quixant | Michael Peagram (ch) | 3 May 2019 | 16,500 | 260 | 42,900 | 243,674 | 0.367 |
| RPS | Catherine Glickman | 3 May 2019 | 21,500 | 185 | 39,775 | 21,500 | 0.010 |
| Saga | Gareth Hoskin | 2 May 2019 | 66,907 | 59.8 | 40,010 | 66,907 | 0.006 |
| Schroder Asian Total Return | Sarah MacAulay | 2 May 2019 | 5,500 | 361.67 | 19,892 | 5,500 | 0.006 |
| Smith & Nephew | Roland Diggelmann | 3 May 2019 | 1,540 | 1,532.11 | 23,595 | 6,407 | 0.001 |
| Tasty* | Adam Kaye | 2 May 2019 | 5,000,000 | 4 | 200,000 | 12,236,560 | 8.673 |
| Tasty* | Jonny Plant (joint ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 2,937,323 | 4 | 117,493 | 7,091,902 | 5.027 |
| Tasty* | Keith Lassman (ch) | 2 May 2019 | 473,414 | 4 | 18,937 | 806,599 | 0.572 |
| Tasty* | Samuel Kaye (joint ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 10,000,000 | 4 | 400,000 | 20,750,588 | 14.707 |
| XLMedia | Ory Weihs (ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 297,029 | 50 | 148,515 | 4,853,764 | 2.308 |
| Yourgene Health | Barry Hextall (cfo) | 8 May 2019 | 89,551 | 11.5 | 10,298 | 522,069 | 0.087 |
| Yourgene Health | Hayden Jeffreys | 8 May 2019 | 222,348 | 11.5 | 25,570 | 222,348 | 0.037 |
| Zenith Energy | Andrea Cattaneo (ceo) | 3 May 2019 | 100,000 | 2.9999 | 3,000 | 21,302,911 | 8.730 |
| Zenith Energy | Andrea Cattaneo (ceo) | 3 May 2019 | 100,000 | 3.04 | 3,040 | 20,752,911 | na |
| Zenith Energy | Andrea Cattaneo (ceo) | 3 May 2019 | 350,000 | 3.065 | 10,728 | 21,202,911 | na |
| Zenith Energy | Andrea Cattaneo (ceo) | 3 May 2019 | 100,000 | 3.09 | 3,090 | 20,852,911 | na |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Barr (AG)♥ | Jonathan Kemp | 3 May 2019 | 4,000 | 828 | 33,120 | 3,836 | 0.003 |
| Hiscox | Richard Watson | 8 May 2019 | 50,000 | 1,594.89 | 797,443 | 605,891 | 0.211 |
| Medica | John Graham (ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 1,100,000 | 148 | 1,628,000 | 1,158,248 | 1.042 |
| Nanoco | Michael Edelman (ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 1,696,463 | 45 | 763,408 | 1,186,734 | 0.415 |
| Nanoco | Michael Edelman (ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 60,680 | 48 | 29,126 | 2,883,197 | 1.008 |
| Nanoco | Nigel Pickett | 2 May 2019 | 45,510 | 48 | 21,845 | 10,884,694 | 3.805 |
| Nanoco | Michael Edelman (ceo) | 2 May 2019 | 242,857 | 50.02 | 121,477 | 2,943,877 | 1.029 |
| Nanoco | Nigel Pickett | 2 May 2019 | 182,143 | 50.02 | 91,108 | 10,930,204 | 3.821 |
| *Placing/tender/open offer ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
