BOSSES at DSG International wasted little time in picking up shares in the electronics retailer after Wednesday’s better than expected results.
John Allan, who was appointed chairman a year ago, paid £28,300 for 100,000 shares at 28.3p each. Allan, formerly finance chief at Deutsche Post, previously held no shares in DSG, owner of Currys and PC World.
John Whybrow, a non-executive director of DSG and chairman of the building supplies firm Wolseley, bought 104,614 shares at 28.7p each. He now owns 276,000 DSG shares.
The company has had a tough time, with the recession forcing consumers to tighten their belts and cut spending on electronic goods such as computers and televisions. It raised more than £310m from a rights issue in June and is eager to move on from the 78% profits plunge announced later that month.
The latest sales figures looked brighter: like-for-like sales fell 6% in the first 16 weeks of its financial year, to August 22, having dropped 11% in the second half of 2008 and 9% in the last fiscal year. Management said the smaller than feared decline was “encouraging”.
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PRUDENTIAL shares worth nearly £305,000 have been sold by Michael McLintock, an executive director.
McLintock, who has been on the board of the insurer since 2000 and is chief executive of M&G Investments, its fund management arm, sold 59,441 shares at 513p each. His stake is down to 851,000 shares.
Prudential said last month that its half-year results showed continued “strong performance” in challenging market conditions. The group raised its half-year dividend by 5% to 6.29p per share, in contrast to Aviva and Legal & General, which cut dividends heavily.
Operating profit before tax from continuing operations increased 6% to £688m, driven by strong underlying performance in Asia and a one-off benefit from a regulatory change in Malaysia.
Prudential also gave an update on M&G, saying the asset manager saw inflows rise sharply though profits fell 34% to £75m because of lower equity markets, lower investment income and the property downturn.
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M&G, which McLintock joined in 1992, was acquired by Prudential in 1999. Previously he worked with Morgan Grenfell and Barings.
Directors have in-depth knowledge of their businesses, so it can pay to track their moves. Every week digitallook.com reveals those bosses who have bought or sold big stakes.