Admiral (ADM) was one of the few insurers to beat market profit expectations during the first half, as it managed to increase motor rates ahead of the broader market. On the same day the Welsh insurer revealed these results, the Waterloo Foundation – a charity set up by chief executive David Stevens and his wife, Heather, in 2007 – sold £4.8m of the shares that had been donated to it. Mr Stevens is a trustee of the foundation. The foundation retains a 1 per cent stake in Admiral following the sale.
IC TIP:
Hold
at
2168p
Despite motor premium rates rising, they still lagged claims inflation, which pushed up the attritional loss ratio by 2.2 percentage points. That was even after excluding the impact of the government’s change to the Ogden rate – used to calculate compensation received by motor accident victims – which caused the insurer to take a £33m charge during the first half.
| Buys | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Aberforth Split Level Income Trust | Lesley Jackson | 8 Aug 19 | 32,728 | 75.97 | 24,863 | 32,728 | 0.014 |
| Advanced Oncotherapy * | Michael Sinclair (ch) | 12 Aug 19 | 875,000 | 40 | 350,000 | 7,469,660 | 3.354 |
| AFH Financial | Mark Chambers | 9 Aug 19 | 15,625 | 320 | 50,000 | 49,603 | 0.116 |
| Boohoo | Brian Small | 14 Aug 19 | 20,000 | 230.8 | 46,160 | 40,000 | 0.003 |
| Burford Capital | Charles Parkinson | 8 Aug 19 | 8,000 | 655 | 52,400 | 8,000 | 0.004 |
| Burford Capital | Hugh Wilson | 13 Aug 19 | 29,410 | 703 | 206,752 | 254,410 | 0.116 |
| Burford Capital | Hugh Wilson | 8 Aug 19 | 25,000 | 797.55 | 199,388 | 225,000 | 0.103 |
| CLS Holdings | Andrew Kirkman (cfo) | 14 Aug 19 | 50,000 | 226.7 | 113,517 | 100,128 | 0.025 |
| ContourGlobal | Joseph Brandt (ceo) | 8 Aug 19 | 47,400 | 1.6551 | 78,453 | 1,695,927 | 0.253 |
| ContourGlobal | Joseph Brandt (ceo) | 8 Aug 19 | 6,000 | 165 | 9,900 | 1,736,927 | 0.259 |
| ContourGlobal | Ruth Cairnie | 9 Aug 19 | 7,715 | 166.595 | 12,853 | 7,715 | 0.001 |
| ContourGlobal ♥ | Ruth Cairnie | 9 Aug 19 | 17,285 | 167.9 | 29,022 | 25,000 | 0.004 |
| Diversified Gas & Oil | Bradley Gray (fd and coo) | 13 Aug 19 | 15,000 | 98 | 14,700 | 2,252,981 | 0.338 |
| Diversified Gas & Oil | David Johnson (ch) | 13 Aug 19 | 70,000 | 103.323 | 74,776 | 300,000 | 0.045 |
| Fidelity Japan Trust | Sarah MacAulay | 13 Aug 19 | 20,000 | 152.8 | 30,560 | 61,350 | 0.046 |
| Fidelity Japan Trust ♥ | David Graham | 14 Aug 19 | 13,051 | 153.24 | 19,999 | 38,394 | 0.029 |
| Fidelity Japan Trust | David Graham | 14 Aug 19 | 7,343 | 153.4143 | 11,265 | 25,343 | 0.019 |
| First Property Group | Ben Habib (ceo) | 8 Aug 19 | 100,000 | 43.5 | 43,500 | 14,600,000 | 13.113 |
| Funding Circle | Andrew Learoyd (ch) | 8 Aug 19 | 47,103 | 108.19 | 50,957 | 1,689,991 | 0.486 |
| Indivior | Lorna Parker | 9 Aug 19 | 8,282 | 60.3707 | 5,000 | 25,890 | 0.004 |
| Indivior | Peter Bains | 8 Aug 19 | 54,000 | 60.699 | 32,777 | 54,000 | 0.007 |
| Lookers | Mark Raban (cfo) | 14 Aug 19 | 50,000 | 43.5 | 21,750 | 50,000 | 0.013 |
| Lookers | Stuart Counsell | 14 Aug 19 | 216,213 | 43.5 | 94,053 | 216,213 | 0.056 |
| Lookers | Stuart Counsell | 14 Aug 19 | 3,787 | 43.845 | 1,660 | 220,000 | 0.057 |
| M&C Saatchi | Mickey Kalifa | 12 Aug 19 | 27,985 | 268 | 75,000 | 27,985 | 0.031 |
| M&C Saatchi | David Kershaw (ceo) | 12 Aug 19 | 37,314 | 268 | 100,002 | 4,164,374 | 4.564 |
| M&C Saatchi | Jeremy Sinclair (ch) | 12 Aug 19 | 37,314 | 268 | 100,002 | 4,164,374 | 4.564 |
| M&C Saatchi | Bill Muirhead | 12 Aug 19 | 37,314 | 268 | 100,002 | 4,164,374 | 4.564 |
| Plus500 | Michael Fairbairn | 13 Aug 19 | 15,000 | 657 | 98,521 | 55,000 | 0.049 |
| Plus500 | Asaf Elimelech (ceo) | 14 Aug 19 | 30,460 | 684 | 208,247 | 30,460 | 0.027 |
| Plus500 | Elad Even-Chen (cfo) | 14 Aug 19 | 30,460 | 685.8 | 208,895 | 30,460 | 0.027 |
| Provident Financial | Paul Hewitt | 9 Aug 19 | 13,148 | 380.267 | 49,998 | 34,205 | 0.013 |
| Rolls-Royce | Beverly Goulet | 9 Aug 19 | 5,000 | 783 | 39,150 | 9,302 | 0.000 |
| RPS | John Douglas (ceo) | 14 Aug 19 | 45,517 | 126.54 | 57,597 | 501,992 | 0.222 |
| RPS | John Douglas (ceo) | 13 Aug 19 | 30,335 | 127.5 | 38,677 | 456,475 | 0.202 |
| Senior | David Squires (ceo) | 8 Aug 19 | 25,000 | 196.5 | 49,125 | 103,608 | 0.025 |
| Senior | Celia Baxter | 9 Aug 19 | 7,500 | 201.97 | 15,148 | 17,500 | 0.004 |
| Shield Therapeutics | James Karis (ch) | 13 Aug 19 | 75,000 | 178 | 133,500 | 161,667 | 0.138 |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering ♥ | James Pike ch) | 8 Aug 19 | 1,250 | 8,090 | 101,125 | 8,646 | 0.012 |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering | Kevin Thompson | 8 Aug 19 | 2,500 | 8,100 | 202,500 | 2,500 | 0.003 |
| Spire Healthcare | Garry Watts (ch) | 8 Aug 19 | 50,000 | 98 | 49,000 | 653,577 | 0.163 |
| Spire Healthcare | Justinian Ash (ceo) | 8 Aug 19 | 49,554 | 100.9 | 50,000 | 394,654 | 0.098 |
| Sports Direct International | Richard Bottomley | 14 Aug 19 | 10,000 | 234.7248 | 23,472 | 10,000 | 0.002 |
| Synthomer | Alexander Catto | 9 Aug 19 | 184,400 | 294.167 | 542,444 | 1,614,239 | 0.380 |
| TP ICap | David Shalders | 14 Aug 19 | 14,801 | 268.806 | 39,786 | 28,817 | 0.005 |
| Verona Pharma | David Ebsworth (ch) | 8 Aug 19 | 60,000 | 50 | 30,000 | 295,387 | 0.280 |
| Vitec Group (The) | Ian McHoul (ch) | 14 Aug 19 | 5,000 | 1,118.09 | 55,905 | 10,000 | 0.022 |
| Vitec Group (The) | Richard Tyson | 9 Aug 19 | 2,654 | 1,123.90 | 29,828 | 2,654 | 0.006 |
| WPP | Jacques Aigrain | 12 Aug 19 | 10,500 | 972.53 | 102,116 | 34,000 | 0.003 |
| WPP | Jacques Aigrain | 9 Aug 19 | 10,500 | 984.64 | 103,387 | 23,500 | 0.002 |
| Sells | |||||||
| Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
| Admiral ♥† | David Stevens (ceo) | 14 Aug 19 | 225,000 | 2,126 | 4,783,500 | 8,347,950 | 2.869 |
| NewRiver REIT | Allan Lockhart (ceo) | 13 Aug 19 | 75,000 | 160.4 | 120,300 | 405,633 | 0.133 |
| Quilter | Paul Feeney (ceo) | 8 Aug 19 | 13,604 | 135.71 | 18,462 | 900,090 | 0.047 |
| Unicorn AIM VCT | Jeremy Hamer | 9 Aug 19 | 28,254 | 139.75 | 39,485 | 12,202 | 0.009 |
| Young & Co's Brewery †† | Torquil Sligo-Young | 9 Aug 19 | 2,000 | 1,620 | 32,400 | 292,304 | 0.979 |
| Young & Co's Brewery ♥ †† | Torquil Sligo-Young | 9 Aug 19 | 18,000 | 1,620 | 291,600 | 274,304 | 0.918 |
| *Placing/tender/open offer/right issue ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
| †Shares sold by The Waterloo Foundation, a charity of which Mr Stevens is a trustee. The Foundation retains a shareholding of just over 1 per cent | |||||||
| ††Around 52 per cent of the shares were sold in connection with a tax liability relating to a deferred annual bonus share award, made to Mr Sligo-Young by the company in June 2016 | |||||||
