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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of director dealings reported in London on Thursday.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings said Chief Executive Officer Warren East bought 6,691 shares at a price of 746.31 pence per share on Thursday.
Following this transaction, East holds 7,690 shares.
Rolls-Royce earlier posted a sharp fall in first half profit, hit by weakness in its offshore marine markets due to low oil prices, as revenue increased and the group edged up its dividend payout.
"In the near term, we are managing a significant transition from mature engines to newer, more fuel efficient ones, such as the Trent XWB, Trent 7000 and Trent 1000. At the same time, we are taking appropriate actions to mitigate the effects of weakness in our offshore marine markets," said Warren East, Rolls-Royce's chief executive.
"While these create a profit headwind in the near term, it is critical we successfully deliver our product launches, complete our supply chain transformation and sustain investment in our businesses to strengthen their competitive positions. The initial phase of my ongoing operational review has and will continue to concentrate on how we drive improvements and sharpen our focus to make us a more resilient and sustainable business," East added.
Shares in the aerospace and engineering company closed 2.6% higher at 749.50p, among the top 10 performers in the FTSE 100.
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Xchanging said Chief Financial Officer David Bauernfeind, along with his connected party, bought a total of 14,345 shares at an average price of 97.67p per share on Thursday.
Following this transaction, Bauernfeind increased his interest to 781,906 shares, representing approximately 0.316% of Xchanging's issued share capital.
The company also said Catherine Wilson, a person connected to Non-Executive Director Stephen Wilson, bought 17,879 shares at 97.75p.
Xchanging earlier Thursday said that Chief Executive Ken Lever intends to retire at the end of 2015, prompting a hunt for a new boss, as the company swung to a pretax loss in the first half after taking a GBP47.0 million goodwill impairment charge in its procurement division.
In a statement, the business process services and technology company said the search for a successor is underway.
Xchanging said it made a GBP44.4 million pretax loss in the six months to the end of June, compared with a GBP22.2 million pretax profit in the corresponding half of the prior year.
The stock was closed 23% lower at 97.75p Thursday.
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Kromek Group said Chief Financial Officer Derek Bulmer bought 40,000 shares at 30 pence each on Thursday, which is his only holding in the company.
Earlier Thursday, Kromek said it is planning to raise GBP11 million via a discounted placing, which overshadowed its report of a narrower pretax loss and higher revenue for its financial year to the end of April. The radiation detection technology company said it will raise GBP11 million in a firm placing via the issue of 36 million shares at 25 pence per share, plus a further 8 million shares in an open offer at the same price. The discounted placing sent Kromek shares tumbling. Kromek shares closed 14% lower at 29.88p Thursday, one of the worst performers on AIM.
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Standard Life European Private Equity Trust said Chief Investment Officer Peter McKellar bought 50,000 shares at 210 pence each. He now holds 984,570 shares in the trust or 0.63% of issued shares. Shares closed 1.4% lower at 208.00p Thursday.
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Dialight said Non-Executive Director Bob Lambourne bought 1,000 shares at a price of GBP4.92025 per share Wednesday. Following this transaction, Lambourne now holds a total of 5,000 shares, representing 0.015% of the issued share capital. The stock closed up 12% at 551.00p Thursday.
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Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust said Non-Executive Director Alex Hammond-Chambers bought 2,500 shares at 532 pence each on Wednesday. He now holds 25,000 shares in the trust or 0.16% of issued shares. Shares closed down 0.1% at 528.75p Thursday.
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Fastjet said HEXAM Capital Partners sold 3.5 million shares at a price of 80 pence per share Wednesday. The shares sold constitute a 5.3% stake in Fastjet. Non-Executive Director Bryan Collings is a 100% shareholder in Coppin Collings Ltd, which in turn owns 52% of HEXAM Capital. Following the sale HEXAM Capital holds 7.6 million shares in fastjet, representing approximately 11.51% of the issued share capital of the company. Fastjet shares closed up 1.2% at 87.00p Thursday.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
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