In our weekly series, James Norris looks at directors buying and selling shares in their own company over the last week.
- Rio Tinto sees new chairman start buying stock
- Kingfisher non-exec buys in as company continues shares repurchase
- Managing director sells over £.0.5m in BAE Systems
- CEO of Faron Pharmaceuticals increases his personal holdings
- Several directors buy up more shares in The Artisanal Spirits Company
Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) director Dominic Barton has bought 5,300 shares at AUD 119 (£68.20) each. Barton is a former head of McKinsey and former Canadian ambassador to China, which is Rio Tinto’s biggest source of revenue. He is due to become chairman of Rio Tinto next month. Rio’s share price has gained more than 40% since mid-November last year, reflecting the strength of its balance sheet and the commodities market. So far this year, the stock has gained 26.78%, and closed for trading yesterday at 6,154p.
Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) non-executive director Jeff Carr on 11 April bought 210,000 ordinary shares at 259.7p each, for a total of £519,400. Kingfisher, the group that owns the B&Q, Castorama, Brico, Screwfix, TradePoint and other brands, has also been buying back shares for cancellation as part of a £300m share repurchase programme announced on 21 September 2021, most recently from Goldman Sachs, but also from BNP Paribas, Barclays and Credit Suisse. The stock has slipped -22.94% YTD and -22.09% over the past 12 months, most likely as a result of lacklustre results. The stock opened for trading today at 257.50p.
BAE Systems (LSE: BA) group managing director Gabrielle Costigan last week sold 6,923 shares at £7.314 each, for a total of £50,632. After exercising some share options, she sold a further 66,565 shares, worth about £484,000. Her timing was good, as the stock had jumped almost 26% after news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February had ramped up expectations of increased military spending by European governments. The stock opened for trading today at 770.80p, a robust performance with a return of 41% YTD and 52.53% over the past 12 months.
Faron Pharmaceuticals (AIM: FARN), a Finnish clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on immunotherapy for treating cancer and inflammation, on 11 April announced that CEO Markku Jalkanen had acquired 25,000 ordinary shares in the company at an average price of €2.8213 per share. This means Jalkanen directly holds 2,125,565 ordinary shares in the company, representing 3.99% of the issued share capital. With his spouse, he has a combined interest of 3,251,677 ordinary shares in the company, or 6.11% of the company’s issued share capital. The stock has seen a continuous decline since mid-August last year and is currently trading at 233.50p, a return of -17.13% YTD and -37.24% over 12 months.
The Artisanal Spirits Company (AIM: ART) managing director David Ridley on 8 April bought 24,936 ordinary shares in the company at a price of 80p per share, for almost £20,000. The company, which owns the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a prestigious whisky club and independent bottler of whiskies and spirits, posted a sharp rise in revenue and membership. Last week non-executive director Helen Page bought 27,027 ordinary shares for almost £20,000 and non-executive chairman Mark Hunter bought 330,000 shares at 72.58p pence per share, for almost £240,000. That week saw the stock jump almost 14% to 85.0p, before settling back to 86.0p at close of trading yesterday. ART, which was admitted for trading on AIM in June last year, has a performance of -10.42% YTD.
