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Directors’ Deals: Capital executive cuts stake

Capital’s shares are currently sitting at around their all-time high and are up by over 60 per cent over the past year. The mining equipment provider, based in Mauritius, saw its shares briefly retreat after releasing its latest full-year results in March, but they have since spiked.

Those results — for the 2021 financial year — benefited from improvements in rig fleet utilisation and robust non-drilling postings. Revenue soared by 68 per cent to $227mn (£173mn), as utilisation hit 75 per cent against the previous year’s 59 per cent and mining services, aided by the Sukari gold mine in Egypt outperforming contract targets, helped non-drilling sales contribute over a fifth of total revenue. 

David Payne, commercial executive, benefited from the company’s recent performance and the share price movement. He sold half a million shares at 96p per share on March 25, which came shortly after he offloaded 1,000,000 shares on March 22 at 95p each. This means he has sold £1.4mn worth of shares in recent weeks. 

It is feasible that the upward trend of the company’s shares could continue. Management’s guidance is for revenue of $270mn-$280mn this year. Exploration budgets for the industry are expected by sector analysts to continue to rise in the short term. 

Recent contract wins highlight that the company isn’t resting on its laurels. New projects include a three-year drilling contract in Tanzania which is forecast to bring in $33mn in revenue. Peel Hunt, the broker, recently upgraded its forecasts but said that “the market does not seem to share management’s optimism over the improving outlook”.


Mattioli Woods chief offloads £1.2mn of shares

Shares in Mattioli Woods have been jumping around in recent months. Riding high at 890p over Christmas, the wealth manager’s share price fell to 730p in March, before rebounding to 790p. 

On the whole, however, the signs have been encouraging. In February, the group published a robust set of interim results, with assets under management rising by £4.5bn to £15.1bn. A recent acquisition spree also seems to be bearing fruit, and the company has enticed over 500 new clients in the past six months. 

Sensing an opportunity, the eponymous chief executive Ian Mattioli has cashed in a sizeable chunk of his holding since the start of the year. On 1 April, he sold 150,000 shares for 780p, meaning he pocketed a total of £1.17mn. Mattioli now holds just over 3mn shares — or 5.9 per cent of issued share capital, compared with over 7 per cent at the start of 2022. 

This is the third sale the chief executive has completed this year. On February 10 and 11, Mattioli sold 415,756 shares — including 30,000 shares held by the Ian and Clare Mattioli Charitable Trust — at 800p. Shortly before this, on January 7, he sold 14,260 shares at a price of 851p. 

Before this year’s flurry of activity, Mattioli’s last share sale took place over six years ago in November 2015. 

Going forward, there is a question mark over how much Mattioli Woods can grow, as DIY investment platforms become ever more popular. However, its acquisition strategy is proving successful thus far, fuelling asset and revenue growth. What’s more, organic revenue growth has returned to positive territory and Mattioli’s recent deals do not seem to have spooked investors. 

Directors’ Deals, March 24 — April 1 2022
Company Director/PDMR Date Price (p) Aggregate value (£)
BUY
ActiveOps Kuljit Bawa (PDMR) 28 Mar 22 95 646,765
ActiveOps Richard Jeffery (ce) 28 Mar 22 95 149,253
Baltic Classifieds Trevor Mather (ch) 24 Mar 22 136 487,153
Baltic Classifieds Edmund Warren Williams 29 Mar 22 134 500,100
Bank of Cyprus Constantine Iordanou 29 Mar 22 75 375,000
Circassia Ian Johnson (ch) 29 Mar 22 36 54,075
Eco Animal Health Christopher Wilks (cfo) 29-31 Mar 22 161 82,080
Flowtech Fluidpower Jamie Brooke 29 Mar 22 130 103,720
Flutter Entertainment Atif Rafiq 24 Mar 22 4,472 † 171,431 †
Greggs Roger Whiteside (ce) 25 Mar 22 2,421 189,394
Greggs Richard John Hutton 25 Mar 22 2,421 100,084
Hiscox Aki Hussain (ce) 25 Mar 22 958 67,060
Hostelworld Michael Cawley (ch) 31 Mar 22 77 134,225
IWG François Pauly 25 Mar 22 258 129,000
Kasei Holdings Jane Thomason Abigail (ch) ** 25 Mar 22 20 150,000
Parsley Box Chris van der Kuyl (ch) */ ** 30 Mar 22 20 1,876,250
Parsley Box Kevin Dorren (ce) ** 30 Mar 22 20 1,100,000
Polar Capital Holdings Andrew Ross 29 Mar 22 591 88,575
PZ Cussons Jonathan Myers (ceo) * 30 Mar 22 196 100,252
Watches of Switzerland Tea Colaianni 25 Mar 22 1,122 98,916
Watches of Switzerland Robert Moorhead 28 Mar 22 6,557 74,430
Watches of Switzerland Ian Carter (ch) 28 Mar 22 1,146 99,687
Wickes David Wood (ce) 25 Mar 22 179 99,464
SELL
Capital David Regan Payne (PDMR) 25 Mar 22 96 480,000
Cyba Steve Bassi (PDMR) 01 Apr 22 2 716,820
Cyba Nick Davis (PDMR) 01 Apr 22 2 131,838
Cyba Ben Schmidt (PDMR) 01 Apr 22 2 113,851
London Stock Exchange Daniel Maguire (PDMR) 24 Mar 22 7,814 173,627
Mattioli Woods Ian Mattioli (ceo) 01 Apr 22 780 1,170,000
Somero Enterprises Howard Hohmann (PDMR) 28-29 Mar 22 490 147,036
*Spouse/Family/Close Associate. ** Placing / Open Offer † Converted from € / $
Source: Investors’ Chronicle