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CRH and Airtel Africa: Big director share deals this week

Find out which directors are buying and selling shares in their own companies
CRH and Airtel Africa: Big director share deals this weekPublished on January 10, 2025

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
CompanyDirector/PDMRDatePrice (p)Aggregate value (£)
Airtel AfricaShravin Mittal*27-Dec10515,750,000
BPMelody Meyer20-Dec2,27968,368
British LandKelly Cleveland23-Dec35549,736
British LandDavid Walker (cfo)23-Dec35452,477
Brooks MacdonaldAndrea Montague (ce)30-31 Dec1,660132,800
Brooks MacdonaldMaarten Slendebroek (ch)30-Dec1,66022,825
Brooks MacdonaldKatherine Jones (cfo)30-31 Dec1,66053,647
Cadogan Energy SolutionsMichel Meeus (ch)20-Dec475,600
CRHRichard Fearon24-Dec7,513751,300
DiplomaChris Davies (cfo)20-Dec4,280167,648
EJF InvestmentsJohn Kingston (ch)23-Dec123200,126
GelionSteve Mahon (ch)**02-Jan1525,000
GelionThomas Maschmeyer**02-Jan1550,000
GelionJoycelyn Morton**02-Jan1525,000
GelionMichael Davie**02-Jan1525,000
GelionJohn Wood (ce)**02-Jan1525,000
HICL InfrastructureMichael Bane (ch)20-Dec11551,750
Hikma PharmaceuticalsSusan Ringdal20-Dec1,94764,251
IndiviorRobert Schriesheim20-Dec935200,090
Invinity Energy SystemsNeil O'Brien (ch)27-Dec1520,048
Invinity Energy SystemsJonathan Marren (ce)27-Dec1520,000
Marston'sJustin Platt (ce)23-Dec4566,522
Marston'sHayleigh Lupino (cfo)23-Dec4550,305
MicroliseJonathan Lee (ch)20-Dec10320,000
Mission GroupMark Lund (ce)02-Jan3024,600
Property Franchise GroupGareth Samples (ce)23-Dec40240,200
SpectrisKjersti Wiklund 20-Dec2,43048,600
Supermarket Income ReitSapna Shah20-Dec6832,987
VictoriaGavin Petken31-Dec69176,125
Sells
CompanyDirector/PDMRDatePrice (p)Aggregate value (£)
Ascent ResourcesAndrew Dennan (ce)*20-Dec237,426
Gran Tierra Gary Guidry (ce)27-Dec559290,680
Raspberry PiEben Upton (ce)*31-Dec620185,872
Seeing MachinesMichael Brown*24-Dec46,529,797
*Spouse / Family / Close Associate † converted from € / $ / AUS$ **Placing