Expansion plans from life sciences company Abcam (ABC) have not been met with a warm welcome from investors. Management is planning to spend between £175m and £225m between now and 2024 on growth initiatives, including further antibody innovation and expansion into adjacent life sciences markets. In doing so it’s hoping to nearly double its revenue to £450m-£500m over the next five years, but this will come at the expense of the adjusted cash profit margin, expected to be squeezed from 35.6 per cent to 32-35 per cent in FY2020.
The shares fell after these expansion plans were announced, and currently trade at around 1,096p. On 30 September, co-founder and deputy chairman Jonathan Milner made his annual share sale, for tax and estate planning purposes. Dr Milner sold 466,363 shares at 1,147.02p each – totalling £5.3m. Last autumn, Dr Milner sold shares worth £14m at 1,441p each.
Buys | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
Altitude | Peter Hallett (ch) | 30 Sep 19 | 60,000 | 56 | 33,600 | 364,866 | 0.667 |
Aviva | George Culmer | 27 Sep 19 | 31,276 | 397.635 | 124,364 | 31,276 | 0.001 |
Avon Rubber | Chloe Ponsonby | 26 Sep 19 | 1,150 | 1,706 | 19,619 | 4,550 | 0.015 |
Centaur Media | Swag Mukerji (ceo) | 26 Sep 19 | 50,000 | 40 | 20,000 | 134,639 | 0.093 |
Centaur Media ** | Colin Jones (ch) | 26 Sep 19 | 80,000 | 42.74 | 34,234 | 80,000 | 0.055 |
Circassia Pharmaceuticals | Jonathan Emms (coo) | 30 Sep 19 | 300,000 | 16.5147 | 49,544 | 300,000 | 0.080 |
Cranswick | Pam Powell | 27 Sep 19 | 1,000 | 2,924 | 29,240 | 1,000 | 0.002 |
CRH | Johan Karlstrom | 1 Oct 19 | 2,000 | 2,778.56 | 55,571 | 2,000 | 0.000 |
Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas | Gil Holzman (ceo) | 26 Sep 19 | 33,865 | 148 | 50,120 | 8,281,259 | 4.500 |
Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust | Henry Strutt (ch) | 26 Sep 19 | 53,000 | 186.6 | 98,898 | 358,000 | 0.118 |
EnQuest ♥ | Amjad Bseisu (ceo) | 27 Sep 19 | 266,952 | 18.8 | 50,187 | 172,720,819 | 10.188 |
EnQuest ♥ | Amjad Bseisu (ceo) | 1 Oct 19 | 120,686 | 18.9 | 22,810 | 172,841,505 | 10.195 |
EnQuest | Martin Houston (ch) | 1 Oct 19 | 500,000 | 19 | 95,000 | 500,000 | 0.029 |
Equals | Anthony Pearson (ch) | 27 Sep 19 | 27,500 | 90 | 24,750 | 27,500 | 0.017 |
Flowtech Fluidpower | Russell Cash (cfo) | 26 Sep 19 | 28,570 | 105.9 | 30,270 | 28,570 | 0.047 |
Gamesys | Neil Goulden (ch) | 27 Sep 19 | 10,500 | 730 | 76,650 | 105,500 | 0.097 |
Hansteen Holdings ♥ | Melvyn Egglenton (ch) | 27 Sep 19 | 92,835 | 90.4 | 83,923 | 173,683 | 0.041 |
Imperial Brands | Mark Williamson (ch) | 27 Sep 19 | 2,824 | 1,752.60 | 49,493 | 25,502 | 0.003 |
Imperial Brands | Matthew Phillips | 27 Sep 19 | 5,597 | 1,773.30 | 99,252 | 207,752 | 0.022 |
Imperial Brands | Alison Cooper (ceo) | 27 Sep 19 | 11,194 | 1,773.30 | 198,503 | 356,284 | 0.037 |
Imperial Brands | Oliver Tant (cfo) | 27 Sep 19 | 1,250 | 1,776.40 | 22,205 | 99,464 | 0.010 |
Intercede ♥ | Jacques Tredoux | 27 Sep 19 | 1,668,880 | 30 | 500,664 | 14,984,636 | 29.683 |
International Public Partnerships * | John Le Poidevin | 1 Oct 19 | 32,467 | 154 | 49,999 | 130,350 | 0.008 |
International Public Partnerships * | Michael Gerrard (ch) | 1 Oct 19 | 27,597 | 154 | 42,499 | 136,851 | 0.009 |
International Public Partnerships * | Julia Bond | 1 Oct 19 | 16,168 | 154 | 24,899 | 43,079 | 0.003 |
Keller | Michael Speakman (fd) | 27 Sep 19 | 20,000 | 570 | 114,000 | 40,000 | 0.056 |
LoopUp | Keith Taylor | 26 Sep 19 | 40,000 | 55.6 | 22,240 | 58,500 | 0.106 |
Marks & Spencer | Archibald Norman (ch) | 26 Sep 19 | 55,000 | 180.5 | 99,275 | 148,600 | 0.008 |
Marks & Spencer | Justin King | 27 Sep 19 | 20,000 | 184.5 | 36,904 | 44,000 | 0.002 |
Phoenix Spree Deutschland ♥ | Quentin Spicer | 27 Sep 19 | 8,400 | 296.5 | 24,906 | 31,600 | 0.031 |
Primary Health Properties * | Stephen Kell | 26 Sep 19 | 7,812 | 128 | 9,999 | 22,290 | 0.002 |
Primary Health Properties * | Harry Hyman | 26 Sep 19 | 39,062 | 128 | 49,999 | 12,884,421 | 1.061 |
Primary Health Properties * | Ian Krieger | 26 Sep 19 | 20,000 | 128 | 25,600 | 101,481 | 0.008 |
Primary Health Properties * | Peter Cole | 26 Sep 19 | 25,000 | 128 | 32,000 | 75,000 | 0.006 |
Primary Health Properties * | Richard Howell (fd) | 26 Sep 19 | 15,000 | 128 | 19,200 | 170,523 | 0.014 |
Primary Health Properties * | Steven Owen (ch) | 26 Sep 19 | 7,812 | 128 | 9,999 | 83,253 | 0.007 |
R E A Holdings * | Carol Gysin | 2 Oct 19 | 1,000 | 145 | 1,450 | 2,132 | 0.005 |
R E A Holdings ♥* | Richard Robinow | 2 Oct 19 | 1,940,000 | 145 | 2,813,000 | 13,022,420 | 29.719 |
R E A Holdings * | David Blackett (ch) | 2 Oct 19 | 10,000 | 145 | 14,500 | 35,000 | 0.080 |
Savannah Resources | James Leahy | 27 Sep 19 | 1,150,000 | 2.2 | 25,300 | 1,150,000 | 0.093 |
Silence Therapeutics | Iain Ross (ch) | 30 Sep 19 | 25,000 | 188 | 47,000 | 25,000 | 0.032 |
Silence Therapeutics | Alistair Gray | 2 Oct 19 | 3,171 | 189 | 5,993 | 7,019 | 0.009 |
Silence Therapeutics | Steven Romano | 2 Oct 19 | 10,000 | 193 | 19,300 | 10,000 | 0.013 |
Surface Transforms | Michael Cunningham (fd) | 2 Oct 19 | 100,000 | 26 | 26,000 | 100,000 | 0.074 |
XLMedia | Ory Weihs (ceo) | 26 Sep 19 | 330,661 | 60.5 | 200,000 | 6,321,633 | 3.378 |
Sells | |||||||
Company | Director | Date | No of shares | Price (p) | Value (£) | Holding (shares) | Holding (%) |
Abcam | Jonathan Milner | 30 Sep 19 | 466,363 | 1,147.02 | 5,349,277 | 19,467,286 | 9.465 |
Abcam ♥† | Jonathan Milner | 30 Sep 19 | 170,000 | 1,147.02 | 1,949,934 | 19,297,286 | 9.383 |
Ashmore†† | Mark Coombs (ceo) | 30 Sep 19 | 3,000,000 | 501.44 | 15,043,200 | 266,439,260 | 37.382 |
Berkeley Group (The) | Justin Tibaldi | 30 Sep 19 | 5,000 | 4,185.74 | 209,287 | 49,243 | 0.039 |
Berkeley Group (The) ♥ | Richard Stearn (fd) | 30 Sep 19 | 14,000 | 4,185.74 | 586,004 | 168,051 | 0.134 |
Curtis Banks | Paul Tarran | 1 Oct 19 | 175,000 | 295 | 516,250 | 3,628,758 | 6.702 |
Derwent London | John Burns (ch) | 1 Oct 19 | 90,183 | 3,334.90 | 3,007,513 | 582,595 | 0.522 |
Hiscox | Richard Watson | 27 Sep 19 | 30,000 | 1,650.60 | 495,180 | 555,891 | 0.193 |
Keystone Law♥††† | Simon Philips | 2 Oct 19 | 1,100,000 | 475 | 5,225,000 | 1,050,000 | 3.357 |
*Placing/tender/open offer/right issue ♥Spouse/connected party | |||||||
†Shares sold by the Evolution Education Trust, a person closely associated with Jonathan Milner | |||||||
††As announced in Feb 2019, Mr Coombs has agreed with the board to reduce his shareholding "to a more appropriate level over the medium term", by selling up to 4 per cent of Ashmore stock each year | |||||||
†††Shares sold by Root Capital, of which Simon Philips is managing partner. Table shows Root Capital's current shareholding | |||||||
**14.10.2019: This table has been corrected to show that Colin Jones currently holds 80,000 shares in Centaur Media |