In our weekly series, James Norris looks at directors buying and selling shares in their own companies over the last week.
- City Pub Group Chairman purchases 100k shares
- Chief Executive buys 4m Caracal Gold shares
- Senior board members receive Rolls Royce Holdings stock
- Genuit Group Chief Executive purchases 20k shares
- Board members purchase Banco Santander shares
City Pub Group (AIM: CPC) executive chairman Clive Watson bought 100,000 shares at 80.5p for a total of £80,500, or 3.42% of its issued capital. Non-executive director Richard Prickett bought 50,000 shares at 81p for a total of £40,500, equivalent to 0.12% of the company. Watson, announcing preliminary results on 27 April, said: “We are emerging from the pandemic in the strongest financial position that we have ever been in and therefore have signalled our intention to recommence dividends in the autumn.” Shares in the company last week jumped almost 30%, before closing at 97p, a return of -5.8% YTD and -23.2% over 12 months.
Caracal Gold (AIM: GCAT) chief executive Robbie McCrae bought 4 million shares at 104p for a total of £42,063. Caracal, which listed on LSE in August last year, delivered its first batch of gold from its new Kilimapesa mine in Kenya ahead of schedule, after raising £2m from an investor in February. McCrae said he expected to see gold production rising to 24,000 ounces this year, building to a JORC compliant resource base of more than 2 million ounces, with the aim of becoming a major gold producer and new mine developer in East Africa. Shares closed for trading on Friday at 1.1p, a return of -12.3% YTD. Yesterday, gold was trading at $1,868/oz, up 4.3% over the year.
Rolls Royce Holdings (LSE: RR) chief executive Warren East on 28 April acquired 29,348 shares at a price of 82p each for a value of £24,177, while chief financial officer Panos Kakoulis bought 14,101 shares at the same price for a value of £11,616. Both received the deferred stock as part of their base salary. East is thought to be stepping down as CEO, which has not helped the stock, though a more positive outlook for 2022 is forecast despite the inflation in raw material and energy prices which will not help recovery plans for 2022. Shares, currently at 83.3p, are down -32.3% YTD and -20.4% over 12 months.
Genuit Group (LON: GEN) chief executive Joe Vorih bought 20,000 shares at 440p for a total of £88,000 last week. Genuit (formerly known as Polypipe), which manufactures and sells piping systems, and water and climate management systems, has delivered a strong performance for last year “despite cost inflation and supply chain constraints” and while completing three strategic acquisitions. Shares in the company, currently trading at 452p, have returned -22.8% YTD and -20% over 12 months.
Banco Santander (LSE: BNC) Ramiro Mato Garcia Ansorena bought 100,000 shares at 280p for £280,000, at the end of last week on 28th April that saw the share price slump in value. The next day on the 29th April he bought another tranche of 50,000 shares at 2.78p for a total of £139,000. On 26th April, executive chairman Ana Patricia Botin in Madrid bought an aggregate 2.37 million shares at an averaged €2.91. Shares in the bank slumped 15% last week, despite delivering a strong first quarter, with growth in revenues, profit and customer numbers driven by strong performance in all parts of its geographically diversified business. Shares last traded at 232.95p, a return of -6% YTD and -15.8% over 12 months.
