No one knows a company quite as well as its directors, which is why it is worth keeping an eye on their buying and selling of shares.
We have combed through UK directors' deals and published the purchases and sales that caught our eye. Our table is compiled using company announcements and is not exhaustive.
Find out which company shares are being bought by their own directors this week and keep an eye on those which are being sold.
CRH director buys the dip
CRH (CRH) has fared well since shifting its primary listing from London to the New York Stock Exchange.
The company’s shares rose 37 per cent in 2024 and have gained 70 per cent since their switch in September 2023. During that time, the Dublin-headquartered building materials giant has been busy on the transactions front – spending $4.6bn (£3.7bn) in the first nine months of 2024 on acquisitions, and completing the $1.1bn disposal of its European lime operations to SigmaRoc (SRC).
The net effect of this is that although total revenue only edged up by 2 per cent in the third quarter, operating profit rose by 12 per cent despite a challenging market in which it faced weather disruptions on both sides of the Atlantic.
At the results announcement in November, chief executive Albert Manifold said “positive pricing momentum” and decent levels of underlying demand meant the company expected to achieve another year of double-digit growth in adjusted cash profit of $6.9bn-$7bn.
The US market, where CRH generates about two-thirds of its sales and three-quarters of its cash profit, is benefiting from strong levels of demand. Infrastructure, which comprises 40 per cent of US sales, is enjoying the “continued rollout of once-in-a-generation” levels of state and federal funding.
Chief financial officer Jim Mintern argued that this was unlikely to change under the new Trump administration, given bipartisan support for these measures. Yet the risk that some programmes could be cut or delayed, coupled with the increase in CRH’s debt due to acquisitions, have led to some investors viewing the shares as a riskier prospect.
An increase in short positions in December meant the shares fell by 8 per cent in December, which non-executive Richard Fearon viewed as a buying opportunity. He spent $942,200 on the shares on Christmas Eve. MF
Bharti family dials up Airtel Africa stake
The Bharti Mittal family has further increased its stake in Airtel Africa (AAF), buying £15.7mn-worth of shares on 27 December.
Indian Continent Investment Limited, an entity closely associated with Shravin Bharti Mittal, bought 15mn shares at 105p shortly after Christmas. Insiders own 86 per cent of the company, according to FactSet. Indian Continental Investment has been upping its position in Airtel Africa since November last year.
Airtel Africa is majority owned by Bharti Airtel, which is itself a subsidiary of the Bharti family’s investment arm, Bharti Global. The latter separately took a 25 per cent stake in BT in August.
Airtel Africa provides telecoms and mobile money services in 14 African countries. It reported a 19.9 per cent constant-currency increase in revenue in the half-year ended 30 September 2024, driven by strong growth of 38 per cent in Nigeria and 9 per cent in francophone Africa.
However, increases in fuel prices and the impact of Nigerian naira devaluation contributed to a decline in Ebitda margins to 45.8 per cent, from 49.6 per cent in the first half of the year. NV
Buys | ||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) |
Airtel Africa | Shravin Mittal* | 27-Dec | 105 | 15,750,000 |
BP | Melody Meyer | 20-Dec | 2,279 | 68,368 |
British Land | Kelly Cleveland | 23-Dec | 355 | 49,736 |
British Land | David Walker (cfo) | 23-Dec | 354 | 52,477 |
Brooks Macdonald | Andrea Montague (ce) | 30-31 Dec | 1,660 | 132,800 |
Brooks Macdonald | Maarten Slendebroek (ch) | 30-Dec | 1,660 | 22,825 |
Brooks Macdonald | Katherine Jones (cfo) | 30-31 Dec | 1,660 | 53,647 |
Cadogan Energy Solutions | Michel Meeus (ch) | 20-Dec | 4 | 75,600 |
CRH | Richard Fearon | 24-Dec | 7,513 | 751,300 |
Diploma | Chris Davies (cfo) | 20-Dec | 4,280 | 167,648 |
EJF Investments | John Kingston (ch) | 23-Dec | 123 | 200,126 |
Gelion | Steve Mahon (ch)** | 02-Jan | 15 | 25,000 |
Gelion | Thomas Maschmeyer** | 02-Jan | 15 | 50,000 |
Gelion | Joycelyn Morton** | 02-Jan | 15 | 25,000 |
Gelion | Michael Davie** | 02-Jan | 15 | 25,000 |
Gelion | John Wood (ce)** | 02-Jan | 15 | 25,000 |
HICL Infrastructure | Michael Bane (ch) | 20-Dec | 115 | 51,750 |
Hikma Pharmaceuticals | Susan Ringdal | 20-Dec | 1,947 | 64,251 |
Indivior | Robert Schriesheim | 20-Dec | 935 | 200,090 |
Invinity Energy Systems | Neil O'Brien (ch) | 27-Dec | 15 | 20,048 |
Invinity Energy Systems | Jonathan Marren (ce) | 27-Dec | 15 | 20,000 |
Marston's | Justin Platt (ce) | 23-Dec | 45 | 66,522 |
Marston's | Hayleigh Lupino (cfo) | 23-Dec | 45 | 50,305 |
Microlise | Jonathan Lee (ch) | 20-Dec | 103 | 20,000 |
Mission Group | Mark Lund (ce) | 02-Jan | 30 | 24,600 |
Property Franchise Group | Gareth Samples (ce) | 23-Dec | 402 | 40,200 |
Spectris | Kjersti Wiklund | 20-Dec | 2,430 | 48,600 |
Supermarket Income Reit | Sapna Shah | 20-Dec | 68 | 32,987 |
Victoria | Gavin Petken | 31-Dec | 69 | 176,125 |
Sells | ||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) |
Ascent Resources | Andrew Dennan (ce)* | 20-Dec | 2 | 37,426 |
Gran Tierra | Gary Guidry (ce) | 27-Dec | 559 | 290,680 |
Raspberry Pi | Eben Upton (ce)* | 31-Dec | 620 | 185,872 |
Seeing Machines | Michael Brown* | 24-Dec | 4 | 6,529,797 |
*Spouse / Family / Close Associate † converted from € / $ / AUS$ **Placing |