Insider: One bargain and a tempting sell

Topps Tiles FD in at the bottom

Brexit in June and a profits warning four months later wiped out almost half Topps Tiles' market value. And, for the past two months, the flooring specialist's shares have traded nervously in a tight 10p range.

First-quarter results, announced this week, were hardly a catalyst for change. Like-for-like sales grew by just 0.3% in the 13 weeks ended 31 December, and that growth was only thanks to an extra trading day, worth an estimated 0.6%.

And things must have got worse toward the end of the period given we heard at the full-year results in November that like-for-like sales in the first eight weeks of the new financial year had risen 0.8%.

The negative effect of additional trading days will reverse in the second quarter, and Topps will need every bit of help it can get. It blamed a deterioration in consumer confidence for last year's warning, and the first quarter was "soft".

However, chief executive Matthew Williams remains confident that Topps can keep outperforming the tile market.

Sidekick, finance director Rob Parker, clearly shares his boss's optimism. He's just spent over £56,000 on 65,000 Topps shares at 86.5p, not far off those summer 2013 lows.

There'll be no further trading update at the AGM on 26 January, so next time we'll hear is on 4 April ahead of results for the 26 weeks ended 1 April 2017.

Ashtead man owes Trump big time

Few companies have benefited from the Trump effect like Ashtead. The FTSE 100 UK equipment rental company has increased in value by over £2 billion, or 34%, since the property magnate won the US presidential election.

There are clearly big question marks against Trump's promise to spend as much as $1 trillion (£821 billion) on fixing America's infrastructure. But, for now, investors are giving him the benefit of the doubt.

That Ashtead's Sunbelt division makes most of the company's money in the US is also a boost to profits, although costs are in the US currency, too.

So, investors keep buying Ashtead shares. So did non-executive director Lucinda Riches last month at 1,559p. And we highlighted then some scepticism shared by analysts at UBS.

Now, insider Sat Dhaiwal is cashing in. And after working hard at the company for more than 20 years, Dhaiwal has become a very rich man.

A former store manager at Ashtead's UK operation A-Plant, Dhaiwal progressed through the ranks and has run the division for the past 14 years. And despite regularly receiving and vesting company share options, he had amassed a stake of almost 400,000 shares.

So Dhaiwal can probably thank Trump for making him £1.6 million in the past two months!

And he's just turned that huge paper profit into real money. Selling 248,375 Ashtead shares at 1,585.32p netted him more than £3.9 million, leaving him with 150,000 currently worth £2.4 million.

Metals Exploration bets on gold

Want to know where industry men think gold prices are going? Well, non-executive director Jeremy Ayre gave us a clue when he coughed up £250,000 for 5 million shares in AIM-listed Metals Exploration at 5p each.

Metals announced first gold sales at its Runruno project in the Philippines in November, a major milestone in the Project's development. "Mining and processing operations are ramping up soundly," we were told.

Mining industry veteran Ayre now owns 7 million shares, and will be happy to see the gold price up 7% since before Christmas. It hit a seven-week high Thursday near $1,207 an ounce.

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.