DIRECTOR DEALINGS SUMMARY: Morrisons CEO Buys Shares Amid Turnaround

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of director dealings reported in London on Friday.
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Supermarket chain Wm Morrison Supermarkets said Chief Executive Officer David Potts bought 314,881 shares at a price of 158.79 pence per share Thursday.

The deal is valued at around GBP500,000 and Potts' total shareholding following this purchase is 822,881 shares.

Last week Morrisons reported a sharp drop in profit in the first half of its financial year, as its revenue and like-for-like sales continued to decline in a deflationary UK food market and as it competes on price with other supermarkets in the face of the challenge posed by discounters Aldi and Lidl.

The company is in the midst of a restructuring scheme as it revealed that it is selling 140 M local stores for GBP25 million in cash, taking a loss on the sale, to a team led by retail entrepreneur Mike Greene and backed by private equity company Greybull Capital. It said that it expects to incur a loss on disposal of around GBP30 million, but that the sale will enable future investment to be focused on core supermarkets. This will leave it with five M local stores.

The stock closed down 1.2% at 156.60p Friday.
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Rotork said David Littlejohns, head of its fluid systems division, bought 25,000 shares at a price of 189.3 pence per share. Following this transaction, he now holds 96,785 shares, which represents 0.1% stake in the firm. The oil and gas industry downturn continued to drag on the performance of Rotork, as the actuators and flow control products manufacturer on Thursday issued a profit warning due to project delays and cancellations. The closed was down 3.1% at 186.60p Friday.
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Barclays said Head of Compliance Mike Roemer sold 68,898 shares at a price of GBP2.609505 per share Thursday. His total shareholding was undisclosed. Shares in the bank closed down 2.8% at 253.25p Friday.
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Pub operator Marston's said Non-Executive Director Caroline Bradley bought 25,000 shares at a price of GBP1.538700 each Thursday. The purchase is her only holding. The stock closed down 1.1% at 152.00p Friday.
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Rosslyn Data Technologies Friday said Hugh Cox, a director of the company, bought 35,090 shares in separate transactions on Thursday. 30,000 shares at 17.40p each, 35,000 shares at 17.40p each and 30,090 shares at 17.45p each. Following this transaction, Cox now holds 9.7 million shares, which represents a 12.8% stake in the firm. Shares in the analytics services company closed up 5.4% at 17.91p Friday.
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LightwaveRF said Chairman Barry Gamble bought 120,000 shares at 28 pence per share Thursday. Following this transaction, Gamble holds 516,190 shares representing 2.74% of the issued share capital. The stock was up 5.5% at 27.95p Friday.
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K3 Business Technology Group said Chief Executive Officer David Bolton sold 28,500 ordinary shares at a price of 295 pence per share Thursday. Following this transaction, Bolton is now interested in 966,516 shares, representing a beneficial interests of 3.04% in the issued share capital. The stock closed up 0.3% at 299.00p Friday.
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Mattioli Woods said Chairman Bob Woods sold 500,000 shares at a price of 617.16 pence per share. The deal is worth about GBP3.4 million. Following this transaction, Woods now holds 2.6 million shares, which represents 10.3% stake in the firm. The stock closed down 1.7% at 612.00p Friday.
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Majestic Wine said Chairman Phil Wrigley bought 10,000 shares at a price of 381.5 pence per share Thursday. Following this transaction, Wrigley has an interest in 20,000 shares. The company also said Non-Executive Director Ian Harding acquired 2,000 ordinary shares at a price of 379.50p each on Thursday. He has an interest in 10,000 shares. Shares in the wine retailer closed down 0.5% at 382.96p Friday.
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Mulberry Group said Finance Director Roger Mather sold 13,000 shares at an average price of 896.6 pence per share Thursday. The company also said Mather sold 20,000 shares at a price of 900 pence per share on Monday. Following this transaction, Mather's beneficial interest consists of 106,883 ordinary shares representing 0.18% of the ordinary shares in issue. Shares in the luxury handbag maker closed down 0.6% at 895.00p Friday.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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