Keystone Law’s (KEYS) announced a special 8p dividend alongside its first-half numbers. Fortunately, for those seeking to buy into the challenger law firm Root Capital – the private-equity firm of which Keystone non-executive director and former non-executive chairman Simon Philips is managing partner – made a £5.2m share sale one day before the shares went ex-dividend.
The company said that the disposal was down to market demand. Root Capital sold 1.1m shares – just over half of its stake – at 475p each below the prior day’s closing price of 515p. The shares have since come down to 470p. Root has agreed not to sell any further shares until Keystone’s next full-year results are published (its year-end is January).
Keystone made its name as a kind of aggregator of legal services, providing clients with legal services but using a network of self-employed lawyers who receive 60-75 per cent of fees once Keystone has been paid.
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 |