Investors in London and Cape Town asset management firm Ninety One (N91) might want to take a leaf out of management’s book given the top team’s talent for buying on weakness.

Marathon Trust, a vehicle associated with Ninety One chief executive Hendrik Du Toit, finance director Kim McFarland and several other directors, has been actively snapping up shares in the last few weeks as the stock price has drifted lower.

In the last month, Mr du Toit and Mr McFarland’s accounts have each been credited with 2.55 million shares, for a total layout of £8.48 million, taking Mr du Toit’s holding to 0.41% and Mr McFarland’s holding to 0.88% of the outstanding equity capital.

Asset managers have had a tough 2023, as rising rates on cash have encouraged customers to move money out of risk assets into the safety of interest-bearing deposits, and Ninety One is no exception having seen assets under management dip from £135 billion in June 2022 to £125 billion this year.

Meanwhile, Andy Harrison, chairman of industrial property firm Segro (SGRO), has increased his holding in the company this week by another 104,514 shares at a cost of just under £800,000.

Harrison, who was formerly chief executive of EasyJet (EZJ) and Whitbread (WTB) and until the start of this year chairman of Dunelm (DNLM), has been steadily acquiring Segro stock all year and this latest deal takes his buying to just under 450,000 for a total cost of around £3.65 million.

Segro posted a first half loss of £33 million last week on an IFRS accounting basis due to markdowns on its property portfolio following the sharp rise in interest rates over the past year, but on an underlying basis both revenue and profits were higher thanks to rising rents.

Despite concerns over the UK economy, Segro and other players in the industrial property market are still seeing robust demand due to the lack of top-quality, well-located, sustainable space to let, meaning rents – and ultimately valuations – will continue to rise.

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