Join our community of smart investors

Plus500 insiders buy the dip

Amid surging client activity, top managers at the CFD provider have purchased £14m-worth of stock
March 25, 2020

As visitors to Plus500’s (PLUS) website are reminded, 76.4 per cent of all retail investor accounts lose money on the derivatives platform. That hasn’t stopped punters from trading in record numbers in recent weeks, a fact which has not gone unnoticed by a raft of senior managers at the Haifa-headquartered firm.

IC TIP: Hold at 947p

On the 17 and 18 March, six senior figures including managing director Gal Haber and co-founder Alon Gonen collectively bought 1.8 million shares worth a combined £14m. Chief technology officer Ari Shotland followed suit on 19 and 20 March when he acquired £27,101-worth of shares in the open market, at prices ranging between 737p and 825p.

The purchases were understandable. On 16 March, the company issued a trading update which stated that revenue and profits were expected to be “substantially ahead of current consensus expectations” for 2020. Despite this, the stock tanked to 731p a share.

While the decline followed a broader market sell-off, investors still have other reasons to avoid the stock. The potential impact of looming Australian regulatory change is still unquantified, and management says it remains difficult to forecast revenues with any degree of accuracy.

In this regard, Plus500 is not alone. Last week, rival IG Group (IGG) said “unprecedented” levels of volatility and client trading in March had made it impossible to provide accurate guidance for its current April-end quarter, while CMC Markets (CMCX) said recent activity on its platform has been more than double normal volumes.

Buys      
CompanyDirector/PDMRDateNo. of sharesPrice (p)Aggregate value (£)Comments
Lloyds Banking GroupLord Lupton16 Mar 20250,00033.283,000 
IWGMark Dixon (ceo)17 Mar 20241,924144.65349,94328.2% position
Wizz AirWilliam Franke (ch)17 Mar 2030,0002,355706,500 
IWGMark Dixon (ceo)18 Mar 201,600,000115.21,843,200

Weighted average price

CineworldEric Senat18 Mar 20423,41023.599,501 
CineworldAnthony Bloom (ch)18 Mar 20839,704276.49232,173PCA
EMIS GroupAndrew Thorburn (ceo)18 Mar 2010,000767.3476,734 
Man GroupLuke Ellis16 Mar 20123,01895116855 
Man GroupLuke Ellis17 Mar 20626,98295.0595,633 
Man GroupRobyn Grew (coo)18 Mar 20153,20097.7149,653 
Man GroupMark Jones (cfo)16 Mar 20500,00093.4145467,073 
M&GJohn Foley16 Mar 20150,000111166,500 
M&GJonathan Daniels (cio)16 Mar 20150,000111.6167,400 
M&GMike Evans (chair)18 Mar 2051,62796.8550,000 
Plus500Alon Gonen17/18 Mar 201,101,442766.08,437,904 
Plus500Gal Haber (md)17/18 Mar 20264,312800.02,114,496 
Plus500Omer Elazari17 Mar 20100,000794.0794,000 
Plus500Shlomi Weizmann17 Mar 20100,000794.0794,000 
Plus500Elad Ben Izhak17 Mar 20229,587800.01,836,696 
Standard Life AberdeenNorman Keith Skeoch (ceo)17 Mar 2050,294197.499,255 
Standard Life AberdeenStephanie Jane Bruce (cfo)18 Mar 2025,914191.549,625 
GamesysNeil Goulden (exec ch)18 Mar 2019,500549.0107,055 
GamesysRobeseon Reeves (coo)19 Mar 2035,000653.0228,550 
UDG HealthcarePeter Gray (ch)18 Mar 2020,000450.090,800 
UDG HealthcareShane Cooke18 Mar 2015,500442.368,557 
UDG HealthcareBrendan McAtamney (ceo)19 Mar 2025,000454.0113,500 
UDG HealthcareNigel Clerkin (cfo)19 Mar 2020,000516.5103,300 
IWGMark Dixon (ceo)19 Mar 20295,800107.6318,281

Weighted average price

BarclaysJanet Ashley19 Mar 20132,80274.699,034

PCA of Mike Ashley, non-exec director

PlaytechMor Weizer (ceo)19 Mar 20134,000134.0179,486 
PlaytechAndrew Smith (cfo)19 Mar 2045,000129.058,220 
Auto TraderDavid Keens19 Mar 2025,000361.090,259 
CLS HoldingsBengt Mortstedt19 Mar 20311,980159.6497,920 
CLS HoldingsBengt Mortstedt20 Mar 20188,020159.2299,328 
SynthomerCalum MacLean (ceo)19 Mar 2011,000192.021,210 
SynthomerCalum MacLean (ceo)20 Mar 20305,677211.5646,476 
JD WetherspoonJohn Hutson (ceo)20 Mar 2012,000757.090,840 
ElementisPaul Waterman (ceo)20 Mar 20200,00049.198,288

Converted from US$

Genel EnergyBilgin Grup Dogalgaz20 Mar 201,015,00081.4826,161

PCA of Umit Tolga Bilgin

Genel EnergyBilgin Grup Dogalgaz23 Mar 20170,61884.4144,003 
CLS HoldingsSten Mortstedt23 Mar 20300,000158.5475,500