The Insider: City deals uncovered

Boohoo wipes away the tears

A profits warning from Boohoo.com hammered the internet fashion retailer's share price this week - warm autumn weather and fierce competition clearly affected business. The shares now trade at less than half last March's 50p float price, but bosses believe the sell-off - over 40% on the day - has been overdone.

A day after the crash, non-executive chairman Peter Williams and three non-executive directors - David Forbes, Stephen Morana, and Mark Newton Jones piled in. The four accumulated a total of almost 590,000 shares at between 22.25p and 23p, costing over £133,000 in all.

Admittedly, it's done little to improve the mood right now - the shares are up at 23.4p - but broker Citi explains away the warning as "of an early-stage, high-growth online business, highlighting the volatility that can occur from quarter to quarter."

"Our reduced 35p target price is based on a 5% terminal EBIT margin (from 10%), conservative against our assessment that the rebased EBIT margins >8% are sustainable. boohoo is materially more profitable than peers and despite inevitable expansion risks, it represents a long-term, structural growth opportunity."

STM number cruncher spies value

We've covered STM Group before. Major shareholder Nigel Green is selling down his stake to focus on his IFA group deVere, but has had no problem finding buyers. In December, we highlighted the purchase of 1.1 million shares by STM's director of business and product development Alan Kentish at 18.5p. They've soared by a third since to 24.5p, but the buying continues.

STM's finance chief has just spent £40,000 in an open market purchase of 170,200 shares at 23.5p. In the job for a year now, Therese Neish has lifted her stake to 492,756 shares.

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"These purchases by the directorate demonstrate considerable confidence in the prospects of the business," said Colin Porter, the man who runs STM, which advises the well-heeled, cross-border investors and expats, mainly tips on tax, legal, trust and pensions.

House broker finnCap said recently: "After a period of group repositioning, profit from STM's pension administration business is poised to grow. Current year forecasts appear intact and, looking beyond 2014, rising revenue from pension scheme annual management charges should drive profit and potentially fund an attractive dividend stream. A current EV/EBITDA multiple of 4x therefore appears too cautious."

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.