Interactive Investor

Insider: Sirius Minerals, huge sales, brave buys

29th April 2016 11:33

Lee Wild from interactive investor

There's been plenty of wheeling and dealing in company boardrooms this week. Some top bods have banked massive profits, while big spenders think they've spotted a bargain. In this Insider, we whizz around the market, picking a handful of interest to investors.

First up is The People's Operator, a company we've covered in the past. It's a mobile virtual network operator - it sells pay monthly and pay-as-you-go mobile contracts - but 10% of every customer's bill goes to good causes.

It's backed by Wikipedia founder, chairman Jimmy Wales, who we reported bought 80,000 shares last June at 130p each - same as the IPO price in December the previous year.

They've been a poor performer since, and Wales has just bought another 100,000 at 20p, taking his stake to over six million shares, or 7.9% of the business. However, co-founder and creative director Tom Gutteridge offloaded four million shares, cutting his interest to just over 2.6 million.

Mortgage broker Mortgage Advice Bureau lost its shine rather rapidly as an army of directors and other shareholders flogged over 7.5 million shares, or 15% of the business, to institutional investors. Unfortunately, they were only prepared to pay 360p for a £27 million stake, far below the previous day's closing price of 412p closing.

Still, they'll be quids-in, having floated the business in November 2014 at 160p. Boss and founder Peter Brodnicki pocketed £14.5 million, but still has a £50 million interest in the £181 million business.

The owners of McCarthy & Stone jumped at the chance to trouser big gains, too. Between them, Goldman Sachs and the firm's private equity shareholders Anchorage Capital, TPG, and Strategic Value Partners received £200 million from a sale at 235p.

Shares in the retirement home builder are down 16% in the past fortnight to levels not seen since December.

There's been activity the other way at potash hopeful Sirius Minerals. Days after full-year results, non-executive directors Elizabeth Noel Harwerth and Jane Ann Lodge, who both joined Sirius last summer, have acquired small stakes.

Former banker Harwerth bought 49,608 shares at an average price of 18.12p, while Lodge, part of the furniture at auditor Deloitte for 35 years, snapped up 100,000 at 18.35p. They're making a penny a share currently.

Hargreaves Services on the bounce?

Hargreaves Services shares have been heading only one way for the past couple of years - down. Trading at almost 900p in 2014, shares in the supplier of coal, biomass and other solid fuels were changing hands for only 155p this week.

Weak coal prices and poor demand, plus the collapse of the UK steel industry have hurt Hargreaves. It's exiting the thermal coal business as fast as possible and expects to turn £66 million of legacy assets on the balance sheet into free cash "as quickly as possible in an orderly fashion," the firm said Wednesday.

Chief executive Gordon Banham believes this is an "important turning point" for the company.

"After eighteen months of market turmoil, we are finally completing a challenging phase of restructuring to move away from our traditional areas of focus and reposition the group.

"The bulk of that restructuring work is complete and we can now look forward and actively pursue the value creation opportunities ahead of us."

And Banham and his team are backing that turning point with their own cash. The boss has just spent almost £350,000 on 205,000 shares at 170p. Chairman David Morgan and non-executive directors Peter Jones and Nigel Halkes have bought a further 45,000 between them at the same price.

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.