Director dealings: RSA's Hester shows confidence in turnaround

(ShareCast News) - RSA Insurance chief executive Stephen Hester bought almost £0.5m worth of shares in the company just after first quarter results from the company showed his turnaround plan appeared to be working.Hester, who joined the insurer just over two years ago after a post-crash stint at Royal Bank of Scotland, snapped up 100,000 RSA shares at a price of 479.85p apiece.RSA's shares were up 2% to 479p not long before the close of trading on Thursday, having topped 480p for much of the day.When Hester arrived in February 2014, RSA was still reeling from the resignation of previous CEO Simon Lee, who fell on his sword as part of a management clear-out when "financial and claims irregularities" had been unearthed at its Irish division.Prior to that scandal, the shares had been trading above 600p. On Thursday morning, RSA delivered a good first-quarter underwriting performance, with benign weather conditions and the benefit from cost reduction initiatives leading to strong growth in operating profits.The insurance market conditions were said to be are broadly unchanged from 2015, with intense competition continuing to put pressure on pricing.Analyst Charlie Huggins at Hargreaves Lansdown said: "Hester's turnaround plan at RSA appears to be working. The balance sheet has been painstakingly restored, £180m of cost savings have already been delivered, with more to come. Following the sale of the Latin American business, the asset disposal programme is largely complete, meaning RSA is now a much more focused operation."The dividend has proved about as reliable as an English summer historically, but now looks more secure, given RSA's much stronger balance sheet position. These self-help measures have enabled RSA to overcome a very challenging operating environment."Elsewhere, Capital & Regional non-executive director Louis Norval, former boss of the Attfund South Africa private property investment giant, stumped up £1.8m of shares in the UK shopping centre investor. Following the purchases, Norval's Mstead vehicle now owns 70m shares or 9.99% of the REIT's shares. Mstead is part of Homestead Group.Combined with his other holdings this means Norval has a beneficial interest in 132m shares and a total shareholding of all parties connected to him of 170.5m, or 24.32% of the company. Wessel Hamman, another non-executive director of the company is also a non-executive director of Homestead Group Holdings, the parent company of Mstead, but he has no beneficial interest in the shares held by Mstead, the company added. Top Director BuysCapital & Regional (CAL)Director name: Norval ,Louis Amount purchased: 2,857,792 @ 63.82pValue: £1,823,842.81Rsa Insurance Group (RSA)Director name: Hester,StephenAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 479.85pValue: £479,850.01Cathay International Holdings Ltd. (CTI)Director name: Tao ,Wu Zhen Amount purchased: 306,000 @ 18.00pValue: £55,080.00Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY)Director name: Blackwell,LordAmount purchased: 50,000 @ 64.89pValue: £32,445.00Alliance Pharma (APH)Director name: Cook,DavidAmount purchased: 54,492 @ 46.54pValue: £25,360.58Alliance Pharma (APH)Director name: Cook,DavidAmount purchased: 47,879 @ 46.52pValue: £22,273.31Thalassa Holdings Ltd. (di) (THAL)Director name: Soukup,Charles DuncanAmount purchased: 25,000 @ 44.00pValue: £11,000.00Havelock Europa (HVE)Director name: Balfour,HewAmount purchased: 70,000 @ 13.88pValue: £9,712.50Oxford Biomedica (OXB)Director name: Diggle ,Martin Amount purchased: 44,689 @ 5.70pValue: £2,547.27Prophotonix (di) (PPIX)Director name: Losik,TimAmount purchased: 54,992 @ $0.04Value: $1,554.98Hammerson (HMSO)Director name: Drakesmith,TimonAmount purchased: 26 @ 578.50pValue: £150.41Premier Oil (PMO)Director name: Hawkings,NeilAmount purchased: 217 @ 69.25pValue: £150.27Premier Oil (PMO)Director name: Rose ,RichardAmount purchased: 216 @ 69.25pValue: £149.58Lsl Property Services (LSL)Director name: Gill,AdrianAmount purchased: 50 @ 298.00pValue: £149.00Lsl Property Services (LSL)Director name: Crabb,IanAmount purchased: 50 @ 298.00pValue: £149.00Premier Oil (PMO)Director name: Durrant ,Tony Amount purchased: 181 @ 69.25pValue: £125.34Premier Oil (PMO)Director name: Allan,RobinAmount purchased: 180 @ 69.25pValue: £124.65Top Director SellsPetra Diamonds Ltd.(di) (PDL)Director name: Abery,DavidAmount purchased: 250,000 @ 113.00pValue: £282,500.00Petra Diamonds Ltd.(di) (PDL)Director name: Dippenaar,JohanAmount purchased: 250,000 @ 113.00pValue: £282,500.00Petra Diamonds Ltd.(di) (PDL)Director name: Davidson,JimAmount purchased: 250,000 @ 113.00pValue: £282,500.00Petra Diamonds Ltd.(di) (PDL)Director name: Pouroulis,AdonisAmount purchased: 250,000 @ 113.00pValue: £282,500.00Crh (CRH)Director name: Colgan,NeilAmount purchased: 5,580 @ € 24.68Value: € 111,890.15Crh (CRH)Director name: Colgan,NeilAmount purchased: 3,750 @ € 24.69Value: € 75,240.70