There was a notable excess of selling by insiders in the latest weekly director dealings, both in terms of the number of trades and the overall size.
The biggest insider trade of the last week was the sale of 700,000 shares of Israeli gas producer Energean (ENOG) at 800p by its chief financial officer, Panos Benos, netting him a cool £5.6 million.
Having started the year well, Energean shares have drifted from their highs close to £10 in March to below 750p three months later.
However, the firm recently said production was 15% ahead of guidance and it had made the decision to invest in three low-cost, potentially high-return organic growth projects.
David Morgan, chairman of The Mission Group (TMG:AIM), the marketing firm which bills itself as ‘the alternative group for ambitious brands’, reduced his holding in the business by 1.6 million shares which netted him £1.3 million.
He was joined by Robert Day, executive director for the group, who sold just under 1.4 million shares for £1.1 million. Both men are leaving the firm later this year, although Morgan - who led the business for the last 10 years - said he would remain a significant shareholder, ‘in the confidence that the business is in safe and dynamic hands’.
Gamma Communications (GAMA) chief executive officer Andrew Taylor exercised options on 108,381 shares and sold 51,208 of these shares for £1 million to cover the related tax bill.
Gamma’s chief financial officer Andrew Belshaw also sold £1.3 million of shares to cover his tax bill on exercised stock options.
It has been a busy year for the telecom services firm, with new product launches in the UK and the Netherlands and the £40 million acquisition of Mission Labs to bolster its cloud contact centre technology.
Lindsley Ruth, chief executive of industrial and electronic products supplier Electrocomponents (ECM), together with chief financial officer David Egan and chief operating officer Mike England, sold a combined 108,776 shares in the firm at £10.42, raising £1.1 million to cover tax liabilities.
Each received roughly double the number of shares they sold under the company’s long-term incentive plans and deferred bonus plans.
Finally, the executive team at home repair services group Homeserve (HSV) signaled their confidence in the business with chief executive Richard Harpin investing £230,000 and director Tom Rusin investing £370,000 of their annual bonuses in shares under the company’s long term incentive plan.
A full list of the week's most significant trades is here
