In a week where most investors have been selling stocks across the board, the general pattern of director deals has followed a similar trend.
But one stand out deal involves the chairman and co-founder of German software giant SAP and a huge show of faith.
Hasso Plattner, the 76-year-old billionaire who co-founded the business in 1972, has taken advantage of what has been described as a ‘once in a generation’ slide in the company’s share price to snap up a huge load of shares.
According to regulatory filings published on Tuesday the German bought €248.5 million worth of shares at an average price of €101 each.
It comes after SAP shares plunged 20% on Monday as the company lowered its outlook for this year having been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with CEO Christian Klein ditching his target for the firm’s profit margins to expand steadily through to 2023.
Frankfurt-listed SAP provides critical applications for businesses of all shapes and sizes, although about 80% are small and medium-sized (SME) operations.
It was Europe’s most valuable tech company before its share price slide earlier this week, having since been replaced by Dutch semiconductor manufacturer ASML, a running Shares Great Idea.
GB GROUP BOSS SELLS DOWN
Meanwhile a notable director share sale this week comes from Chris Clark, chief executive of AIM-listed data intelligence firm GB Group (GBG:AIM).
Clark has sold 140,000 shares at a price of around 934p each, for a total of £1.3 million. Following the transaction he holds 198,450 shares, a 0.1% holding.
Dave Wilson, chief financial officer and chief operating officer, sold 100,000 shares at around the same price and now has a 0.06% stake in the company.
GB Group’s shares have been on a roll, jumping around 20% in October with investors excited by growth this year. The company is expecting to report revenue growth of around 10% year-on-year for the six months to 30 September as trading remains resilient despite the pandemic.
OTHER NOTABLE DEALS
Richard Papp, merchandise and operations director at clothing retailer Next (NXT), sold 11,750 shares at an average price of around £62.03 each in a transaction totalling over £728,000.
Four separate discretionary trusts which are deemed ‘persons closely associated’ to Andrew Stone, a non-executive director at business telecoms technology developer Gamma Communications (GAMA:AIM), have each sold around £438,000 in shares. It follows sales made by Stone earlier in the month which earned him around £1.7 million.
For a full list of the week's most significant trades, click here.
