Founders reaping the fruits of their labour, embattled bosses taking an act of faith in their struggling business and a finance director giving himself a big payday are among the most significant director deals of the past week.
The biggest deal, announced today, comes from online fast fashion retailer Boohoo (BOO:AIM).
FOUNDERS REAP BLACK FRIDAY REWARDS
Co-founders Carol Kane and Mahmud Kamani have netted a combined £142.5m after selling 15m and 35m shares respectively at 285p apiece.
It comes after the company put out an unscheduled trading update on Tuesday in which it hailed a ‘record performance’ over the Black Friday weekend. The news sent the shares soaring to 306p.
But today’s news of the co-founders’ share sale hasn’t been well-received by investors who have reacted by quitting the stock, weighing its shares down almost 5% to 283p.
Executive director Kane now holds a 2.7% stake in the business after the sale, with executive chairman Kamani retaining a 13.1% holding.
DIRECTORS DISPLAY VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
Elsewhere, three directors of struggling advertising agency M&C Saatchi (SAA) displayed a public vote of confidence in the business by each snapping up over £330,000 worth of shares.
M&C Saatchi shocked the market yesterday after it warned on profit and revealed troubling results from a review of its accounting.
Investors reacted by selling off en masse, sending the shares down 42% to 85p as they rushed to get out of a company grappling with the dreaded combination of weaker than expected trading and higher than expected costs.
But chief executive David Kershaw, chairman Jeremy Sinclair and executive director Bill Muirhead - all founding directors - each bought 415,323 shares at 79.7p per share, for a total of £331,012.43 each.
FINANCE BOSS GIVES HIMSELF BUMPER PAYDAY
The finance director of digital transformation services provider Kainos (KNOS) took advantage of a resurgence in the company’s share price in recent months by giving himself a hefty payday.
Richard McCann sold 1.5m shares at 580p per share last Friday to pocket a total of £8.7m. Following the sale, Richard McCann holds 4.7m shares in the company, equating to a 3.88% stake.
Every Thursday, Shares will roundup the biggest director deals over the past week.
For a full list of the past week’s most significant director trades, click here.
