BPC.L Share News (BPC)

Michael Sharp, the man who took over retail chain Debenhams last year, has underlined his faith in the company with the purchase of shares 100,000 shares.The £74,000 purchase saw the Chief Executive Officer invest his money at 74.32p a go, increasing his interest in the company to over 5.95m shares. Sharp took over the helm over the company at an extremely tough time, when consumers were being squeezed from all sides and shares in the company had lost more than a quarter of their value. He has long served the company and is now in his 15th year with the High Street chain, and another 15 with other retail heavyweights. In April the company unveiled half-year profits ahead of market forecasts, leading the board to say it is confident it will meet its full-year expectations. Headline profit before tax in the 26 weeks to March 3rd eased 0.5% to £128.5m from £129.2m the year before, but was ahead of what analysts tracking the stock had been expecting; the range of forecasts ran from £124m to £125m. Revenue rose 1.3% to £1,238.3m from £1,222.3m the year before. As reported at the beginning of April, the group's gross transaction value rose 1.4% to £1,483.6m from £1,463.0m the previous year. Like-for-like (LFL) sales growth (excluding value added tax) was confirmed at 0.3%. Top Director BuysF&C Asset Management (FCAM) Director name: Mr Edward BramsonAmount purchased: 145,084 @ 71.23p Value: £103,343Debenhams (DEB) Director name: Mr Michael SharpAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 74.32p Value: £74,320Lamprell (LAM) Director name: Mr Colin R GoodallAmount purchased: 44,155 @ 112.10p Value: £49,498Anglo American (AAL) Director name: Mr Jack Thompson Amount purchased: 1,000 @ 2,075.01p Value: £20,750Zetar (ZTR) Director name: Mr Ian BlackburnAmount purchased: 10,250 @ 192.00p Value: £19,680Bahamas Petroleum Co (BPC) Director name: Mr Adrian CollinsAmount purchased: 200,000 @ 7.12p Value: £14,240Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) Director name: Dr Chris Richards Amount purchased: 2,200 @ 462.88p Value: £10,183Top Director SellsPearson (PSON) Director name: Ms Marjorie ScardinoAmount sold: 36,558 @ 1,143.10p Value: £417,894Pearson (PSON) Director name: Mr Robin FreestoneAmount sold: 3,029 @ 1,143.10p Value: £34,624Pearson (PSON) Director name: Mr Will EthridgeAmount sold: 1,439 @ 1,143.10p Value: £16,449