Interestingly, the biggest insider deals of the past fortnight have all been sales rather than purchases, which may or may not be telling us something about the mood in the market.
The chairman and chief executive of Potters Bar-based social care housing specialist Caretech (CTH:AIM) each sold 750,000 shares at 620p at the start of August, netting £9.3 million between them.
The sale, which comes ahead of a crucial revaluation of the firm’s mostly freehold property portfolio, was due to ‘estate planning in relation to their adult children’ according to the regulatory news release.
Shares in Caretech have been on a sustained bull run since the market low last year, rallying from around 300p to nearly 650p. The firm posted a significant jump in earnings and revenues for the year to March and analysts are expecting a further boost for the shares from the revaluation of its property assets at the end of this month.
James Gibson, chief executive of storage rental firm Big Yellow (BYG), lightened up his holding in the firm with the sale of 300,000 shares at £14.46p last week, collecting £4.3 million in the process.
The sale was part of Mr Gibson’s tax planning according to the press release and leaves him and his family’s holding at just over 2.1 million shares or 1.15% of the company’s issued share capital.
Big Yellow shares have jumped almost 50% since mid-March while the company posted a steady single-digit increase in revenues and pre-tax profits in what was a ‘challenging’ year for the business.
Robert Walters, eponymous founder and chief executive of recruitment firm Robert Walters (RWA), trimmed his stake in the company with the sale of 425,000 shares at a price of 660p last week, netting £2.8 million.
That leaves him with just over 2.23 million shares or a 2.9% economic interest in the firm.
He was joined by chief financial officer James Bannatyne, who took up options on 190,000 shares at 211p under the executive share scheme and flipped them at 660p, trousering a quick gain of £850,000 and leaving him with just under 700,000 shares or a 0.91% stake in the business.
There was also significant insider selling by directors at data and software firm Experian (EXPN), specialty chemicals company Croda (CRDA), construction firm Morgan Sindall (MGNS), basic materials group Johnson Matthey (JMAT) and Asia-focused holding firm Jardine Matheson (JAR).
