James Norris reviews directors buying and selling shares in their own company in his weekly column.
- Greencore Group director buys 195,000 shares
- CFO of LXI REIT Advisors Limited buys 85,078 shares
- Ergomed CFO exercised options and sold over 125,000 shares for £1,681,250
- Ingenta non-exec sells 225,000 shares
- Jet2 chairman sells 1.375m shares
Greencore Group LON:GNC executive director Dalton Philips yesterday bought 195,000 shares in the company at 65p for £126,652. Philips made his trade after GNC reported a 43% rise in pre-tax profit and a 31% increase in revenues. In October, Greencore completed a £10m share buyback programme, the first phase of a £50m value return to shareholders announced last May, with another £15m in share buybacks to come in the financial year 2022. At close of trading yesterday, the stock was priced at 65.5p, a return of -49.4% YTD or -49.9% over 12 months.
LXI REIT LON:LXI yesterday announced that Freddie Brooks, CFO of the company’s investment adviser, LXI REIT Advisors Limited, on 2 December bought 85,078 ordinary shares at 116.7p per share for a total cost of £99,812. Two days previously on 30 November, Simon Lee, a fund manager at LXI REIT Advisors, bought 84,775 shares at 118p each, worth £100,000. LXI, the specialist inflation-protected very long income REIT that focuses mainly on UK commercial property, on 24 November reported that its merger with Secure Income REIT was ‘transformational’ for the group, as it expanded the scope of operations, achieved significant cost savings and strengthened the defensive characteristics of its portfolio. At close of trading yesterday, the stock was priced at 117.8p, a return of -18.8% YTD or -19.7% over 12 months.
Ergomed LON:ERGO chief financial officer Richard Barfield on 2 December exercised over 125,000 ordinary share options under the company’s long-term incentive plan and cashed out on the same day at 1,345p per share, for £1,681,250. Ergomed, a provider of specialised services to the pharmaceutical industry, reported in September that revenue was up almost 25%, gross profit was up almost 26% and adjusted Ebitda up 23%. The order book was healthy too: future contracted revenue was up 18.7% in H1 2022 over H2 2021 and up 24.9% over H1 2021. At close of trading yesterday, the stock was priced at 1,338p, a return of -10.8% YTD or 2.9% over 12 months.
- UK Stock Market News: Jet2, BAE, HSBC
- Small Cap Stocks: Creo Medical, Nostra Terra, Proton Motor Power
- Three Quick Facts: Jet2, Gleeson, Hays
Ingenta LON:ING non-executive director Sebastian White on 2 December sold 225,000 ordinary shares in the company at a price of 132p per ordinary share, through Kestrel Partners, an investor in business-critical software companies. White is Kestrel’s investment director. Ingenta, a provider of software and services to the global publishing industry, in October announced that, given the continued strength of its cash generation, it planned to return up to £2.1m to shareholders via a tender offer. Following this transaction, Kestrel indirectly holds voting rights over 3.36m ordinary shares, representing 23.14% of the company’s issued share capital. At close of trading yesterday, the stock was priced at 119.5p, a return of 60.4% YTD or 63.9% over 12 months.
Jet2 LON:JET2 executive chairman Philip Meeson has sold 1.375m shares at 990p per share, for a total of £13.6m, leaving him with an 18.3% shareholding in the company. He sold the shares to diversify his investment portfolio, and said he is not planning any further sales in the immediate future. Jet2 on 24 November announced in its half-year interims (to end September) that the company was 44% ahead of the 2019 pre-Covid performance, while seat capacity was 14% up on the 2019 summer. Total profit for the period after taxation was £356m, up from a -£163.5m loss for 2021. At close of trading yesterday, the stock was priced at 1,017.5p, a return of -8.7% YTD or 0.1% over 12 months.
