James Norris reviews directors buying and selling shares in their own company over the last week in his weekly column
- Fevertree Drinks board members purchase 141k shares
- Savannah Resources interim chief executive building interest
- CEO and CFO buy shares in Restaurant Group
- Joint Chief Executive buys 18k Fintel shares
- Executive director now owns 6.5m Alphawave IP Group shares
Fevertree Drinks (LON: FEVR), the maker of premium carbonated mixers, announced on 15 July that Tim Warrillow, co-founder and chief executive, bought 115,000 ordinary shares in the company at 871p per share; Bill Ronald, chairman of the board of directors, bought 11,416 ordinary shares at 872p; and Jeff Popkin, a non-executive director bought 15,208 ordinary shares at USD 10.45 per share via the US OTC markets. The directors bought their shares just after the stock hit a 52-week low of 855p. FEVR said in its half year trading update, also published on 15 July, it expects to deliver ‘good revenue growth’ for the full year on strong demand for the brand, in particular over the summer and Christmas trading periods, despite a number of headwinds. At close of trading in London yesterday, the stock was priced at 921.5p, a return of -65.9% YTD and -63.1% over 12 months.
Savannah Resources (LON: SAV) interim chief executive Dale Ferguson is building his interest in the company. On 15 July, he bought 255,000 shares at 3.0p for £7,854, through his company Slipstream Resources, which with an interest of 8.75% in the company’s issued capital is Savannah’s second largest shareholder. Ferguson also bought 900,000 shares at 2.1p on 11 July for £18,900. He holds a 31.25% interest in the ordinary shares that Slipstream holds in Savannah. Savannah operates the Barroso Lithium Project in Portugal and is focused on becoming Europe’s most significant producer of spodumene lithium concentrate. At close of trading in London yesterday, the stock was priced at 3.19p, a return of -27.3% YTD and -11.1% over 12 months.
Restaurant Group (LON: RTN) chief executive Andy Hornby (former head of HBOS) bought 376,263 shares at 42.25p for £158,971, while chief financial officer Kirk Davis bought 116,867 shares at 42.56p for £49,739. The directors bought the shares after the company’s acquisition of Mexican food chain Barburrito the previous week and after announcing that this year the group has been outperforming the market. In May, the group said that sales at Wagamama were up 15% on the pre-pandemic 2019 levels. At close of trading in London yesterday, the stock was priced at 46.2p, a return of -50.9% YTD and -60.1% over 12 months.
Fintel (LON: FNTL) joint-chief executive Matthew Timmins bought 17,942 shares at 190p per share for £34,090. Over the past year, Fintel has signed ‘distribution as a service’ deals with a string of leading investment managers, including Invesco, Royal London, M&G, Aviva, Fidelity and Schroders, to provide them with fintech and support services. Fintel owns SimplyBiz, the largest UK provider of business support to financial advisers, and Defaqto, a research, ratings and fintech business. At close of trading in London yesterday, the stock was priced at 193.5p, a return of -15.6% YTD and -15.1% over 12 months.
Alphawave IP Group (LON: AWE) has announced that executive director Sehat Sutardja, through his company Sutardja Family LLC, bought 121,809 shares at 121p per share for £147,340. Sutardja has been buying the depreciating Alphawave shares in weekly batches for more than six months now, accumulating some 6.5 million shares in the process. The most recent purchase gives the Sutardja Family LLC an aggregate holding of 88,276,011 ordinary shares in the company, representing 12.95% of the company’s issued share capital. At close of trading in London yesterday, the stock was priced at 122p, a return of -38.9% YTD and -69.1% over 12 months.
