- BT finance chief sells £200,000 worth of stock
- McBride non-exec buys £32,000
- PayPoint CEO buys £231,000
BT FINANCE CHIEF SELLS
Simon Lowth, chief financial officer of BT (BT.A), offloaded £200,000 worth of shares in the UK telco on 13 December.
Vodafone (VOD) and BT shares fell this week following news the telecoms regulator has proposed banning inflation-linked price rises in the middle of customers’ broadband and mobile contracts.
The regulator Ofcom said the practice was unfair on consumers and was hampering competition.
‘We have provisionally concluded that inflation-linked mid-contract price rise terms can cause substantial amounts of consumer harm by complicating the process of shopping for a deal, limiting consumer engagement, and making competition less
effective as a result’, Ofcom explained.
Consumers didn’t seem to notice when inflation was low, but big rises in official inflation has resulted in consumers paying as much as 14% this year.
BOOMING PRIVATE LABEL DEMAND
Shares in private label household goods retailer McBride (MCB) have surged 325% over the last year but that hasn’t dimmed the appetite of non-executive director Alastair Murray, who acquired 37,500 shares for a total consideration of £31,875 on 13 December.
McBride has been a beneficiary of the cost-of-living crisis as consumers trade down to value-for-money private label products.
In a trading update on 18 November the firm said it continues to trade ahead of expectations in October and early November.
In the first four months of its current financial year, overall volumes were up 8.2% with private label volumes growing 11.7% driven by strong demand.
PAYPOINT CEO BUYS £230,000
Nick Wills, chief executive of digital payment solutions company PayPoint (PAY), purchased 50,000 shares on 11 December for a total consideration of £231,933.
First half net revenue to 30 September increased 34% to £79.8 million but underlying pre-tax profit fell 7.5% to £21.8 million reflecting increased growth investments, higher interest costs and an expected loss from the acquired Love2shop business.
The company proposed a first half dividend of 19p per share, up 2.2% compared with the final dividend declared in July 2023.
