Market excitement for the TT Electronics (TTG) story is unlikely to heat up significantly over the next few months as director share sales dampen enthusiasm.

Last week (31 Mar) finance director, Shatish Dasani, sold 150,000 shares in the company at 213p under his wife’s name. That substantial £319,500 disposal came just days after an almost identical sale at 215p, worth £322,500, netting the Dasani family a £642,000 cash haul. Shares sources reveal that this pair of trades in quick succession are for personal reasons yet it will hardly inspire short-term confidence in a company facing its first change of leadership in six years.

In January it was revealed that respected chief executive officer Geraint Anderson, in the top job since April 2008, would be standing down from the post and leaving the company to pursue pastures new. TT moved quickly to identify a replacement, selecting former Cobham (COB) executive Richard Tyson. Anderson will hand over to Tyson in early July.

TT has been pursuing an efficiency strategy for the past few years in a bid to position the company closer to its core automotive customers, such as BMW (BMWG:DE), Volkswagen (VOWG_P:DE) and Mercedes, as well as to facilitate an expansion into new markets, such as medical and defence. While the firm’s medium-term aim remains 8% operating margins by the end of 2015, a decision to restructure a business in Germany saw broker Numis Securities lower 2014’s pre-tax profit forecast by 9% to £30 million.

There is nothing sinister behind the finance director’s share sales but the next couple of months could see the shares drift with little in the way of catalysts near-term.