XCH.L Share News (XCH)

Chairman of Tesco Bank Andrew Higginson, who recently announced his plans to check-out from the supermarket giant next year, has sold £1.4m worth of his shares in the firm. 54-year-old Higginson, who was formerly group finance and strategy director for the firm, is the man behind Tesco's lucrative move into banking and is widely credited with playing a major role in turning the company into the world's third largest supermarket chain. Higginson is due to retire from the board in September 2012 and has previously said that by next year Tesco will have completed the creation of the Tesco bank as a standalone entity, "and that seems an appropriate moment to hand over, and move on to the next phase of my career." According to broker Credit Suisse, Tesco is currently leading the way in the so called "price war" between the major Supermarket chains. Tesco has been running its "big price drop" programme for seven weeks, with rival supermarkets struggling to match the reductions. Last month, Tesco, which has lost 3.79% on its share price over the past year, reported an 8.8% growth in sales for the half year the end of August, while sales in Asia are up almost 12% at £5.6bn. Top Director BuysCape (CIU) Director name: Mr Martin K MayAmount purchased: 60,000 @ 341.78p Value: £205,068Ferrum Crescent Ltd Ord NPV (DI) (FCR) Director name: Mr Edward F G NealonAmount purchased: 2,000,000 @ 5.25p Value: £105,000Admiral Group (ADM) Director name: Mr Kevin ChidwickAmount purchased: 9,736 @ 836.00p Value: £81,393Admiral Group (ADM) Director name: Mr Kevin ChidwickAmount purchased: 8,000 @ 829.00p Value: £66,320Xchanging (XCH) Director name: Mr Ken LeverAmount purchased: 61,650 @ 70.00p Value: £43,155Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) Director name: Ms Mary HarrisAmount purchased: 5,000 @ 300.00p Value: £15,000Top Director SellsDebenhams (DEB) Director name: Mr Chris WoodhouseAmount sold: 3,000,000 @ 63.79p Value: £1,913,700Tesco (TSCO) Director name: Mr Andrew HigginsonAmount sold: 350,000 @ 403.43p Value: £1,412,005Misys (MSY) Director name: Mr Mike LawrieAmount sold: 279,828 @ 284.90p Value: £797,230Hays (HAS) Director name: Mr Alistair R CoxAmount sold: 24,403 @ 74.06p Value: £18,073NR