It’s been a relatively quiet week for directors buying and selling shares in their respective companies, but one standout deal involves Simon Wolfson, the chief executive of FTSE 100 clothing retailer Next (NXT).

Wolfson sold 150,000 shares in the company at £67.87 each, raking in a total of just under £10.2 million.

The Next boss has not been a frequent seller of his company’s shares, and the deal is his second big transaction in just over a year after he sold 153,000 shares in October 2019 for a total of around the same amount.

According to the Financial Times, the company said Wolfson sold the shares to allow him to ‘spread his investments into other non-retail areas’ and pointed out that he retains a significant holding worth around £80 million at the current share price.

The transaction comes just a week after another big director deal in the sector, as Nick Robertson, co-founder of online fashion retailer Asos (ASC:AIM), sold 300,000 shares in three transactions between £43.75 and £47.23 each, worth a total of around £13.6 million.

Despite still being down year-to-date Next shares have staged a big recovery after it repeatedly upgraded its full year profit guidance, while Asos shares have gained significantly year-to-date as the company has been a big beneficiary of lockdowns and the shift to online shopping.

BURBERRY NON-EXEC BUYS IN

Sticking with the world of fashion, Fabiola Arredondo, a non-executive director at luxury fashion house Burberry (BRBY), has snapped 22,500 shares in the business at £16.38 each, in a deal worth around £368,500.

The company returned to sales growth last month, suggesting the brand is beginning to recover from the worst impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. However, tempering enthusiasm was its decision to reduce markdowns in the long term interest of the brand, creating a revenue headwind in the second half of the year.

Elsewhere, Aveva (AVV) chief financial officer James Kidd bought 5,506 shares in the industrial software business at £41.69 each in a deal worth £229,000.

For a full list of the week’s most significant trades, click here.

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Issue Date: 19 Nov 2020