A handful of deals by company directors stand out from the past week. Directors buying or selling shares in their own company is typically worth watching for retail investors, but stock sales and purchases sometimes need to be put into context.
Trades at four companies particularly piqued our interest, starting with the £9m or so of shares sales at computerised gaming technology designer Quixant (QXT:AIM).
The hefty share sales were led by executive vice-chairman Nick Jarmany, and included further sell-offs by chief executive officer (CEO) Jon Jayal and founder Gary Mullins.
Before investors panic, the shares were sold in an oversubscribed shares placing to institutional investors hungry for a stake in this growth company. Shares in Quixant have soared from 163.5p in a little over two years.
Last week's share placing was struck at 410p, less than a 2% discount to the prevailing 417.5p level.
Director sales represent a fairly modest 3.4% of the overall shares in issue. And importantly, the directors retain plenty of skin in the game, led by Jarmany's 16.5% remaining stake. Mullins retains a 3.3% holding and Jayal keeps 0.5%.
Recent selling activity at Ten Entertainment (TEG) involved non-executive chairman Nick Basing, CEO Alan Hand and chief commercial officer Graham Blackwell selling over £1.8m worth of shares.
While management are ‘locked in’ for at least a year since the company floated in April, it is not reassuring this is the second time they have diluted their stakes (with permission).
However, investors should note this is to meet demand from investors according to Numis.
At e-learning services specialist Learning Technologies (LTG:AIM), non-execs Andrew Brode, Leslie-Ann Reed and Harry Hill have stumped up £1.9m, equivalent to a 15.1% stake, for the acquisition of PeopleFluent.
This could be seen a positive for the company as management are using their own funds for future growth.
Private equity investor Oakley Capital Investments (OCT:AIM) director Peter Dubens is also splashing the cash, buying almost £9m of the stock, representing 3.7% of the company.
