James Norris reviews directors buying and selling shares in their own company in his weekly column.
- Director buys 100k shares in BioPharma Credit
- Medica Group director buys 60k shares
- Non exec director increases interest in Frenkel Topping
- RELX
BioPharma Credit [LON: BPCR] director Rolf Soderstrom yesterday bought 100,000 shares in two equal tranches, for a total of £101,139. BioPharma, the only London-listed life sciences debt investment trust, targets an 8-9% net NAV return per year in the medium term, mainly from royalties and other cash flows from the sale of approved life sciences products, with the aim of generating a predictable income for shareholders. At close of trading yesterday, the shares were priced at $0.93, a return of -3.7% YTD and -4.6% over 12 months.
Medica Group [LON: MGP] director Stuart Quin has bought 59,900 shares at 125p per share for £74,875. Shares in the company, a teleradiology services provider, have fallen more than 22% since August, though in September the company reported total revenue growth of 36%, operating profit growth of 44%, and a slightly reduced gross profit margin. Quin said demand for their services “is at an all-time high in the UK and Ireland, as healthcare providers grapple with the huge backlog of patients waiting for diagnosis and treatment following the pandemic”. At close of trading yesterday, the shares were priced at 123.7p, a return of -22.7% YTD and -24.1% over 12 months.
Great Southern Copper [LON: GSCU], a mineral explorer developing copper-gold assets in Chile, has announced that chairman Charles Bond and non-executive director Nick Briers sold and repurchased ordinary shares in their company to transfer ordinary shares to their respective ISA accounts. GSCU, which listed on the LSE in December 2021, is expected to benefit from the strong, long-term drivers for the price of copper, a key metal in the clean energy transition industry around the world. Bond transferred 736,365 shares at 2.4p, worth a total of £17,673, while Briers sold 200,000 for a total of 4,800. At close of trading yesterday, the shares were priced at 2.5p, a return of -44.2% YTD.
Frenkel Topping [LON: FEN] has announced that private equity group Harwood Capital Management, as investment manager to North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust (NASCIT), has bought 6.7m ordinary shares at a price of 58p per share, for almost £3.9m. The founder of Harwood Capital and chief executive of NASCIT is Christopher Mills, who is also non-executive director of Frenkel Topping. He now has an interest of 38m ordinary shares in Frenkel Topping, representing 29.8% of the company’s issued share capital. Mills was formerly a director of Invesco MIM, where he was head of North American investments and venture capital, and of Samuel Montagu International. At close of trading yesterday, the shares were priced at 63.5p, a return of -18.6% YTD and -14.7% over 12 months.
RELX [LON: REL] non-executive director June Felix has bought 2,000 shares at 2,204p per share, for £44,076. Felix is global CEO of IG Group, for which she previously served as non-executive director, and is widely recognised as a leading fintech innovator. RELX, owner of the Lexis Nexis and Elsevier publishing groups, said in a trading update this month that it is expecting full-year underlying growth rates in revenue, adjusted operating profit and constant currency growth in adjusted earnings per share to remain above historical trends. Underlying revenue growth year to date is 9%. At close of trading yesterday, the shares were priced at 2,262p, a return of -5.2% YTD and 1.4% over 12 months.
