James Cropper finance boss crops stake

James Cropper's finance director John Denman has taken advantage of strength in the specialist and coloured paper maker's share price, pocketing £15,000 from the sale of shares.He sold 6,000 shares at 218p a pop, and now has a beneficial interest in 1,716 shares and a non-beneficial interest in 101,000, which is more than 1% of the company. Non-beneficial interests typically include options that have not yet vested.Denman, whose career has included spells at big companies such as British American Tobacco, drug group GlaxoSmithKline and car parts and bike retailer Halfords, joined James Cropper in 1995.Shares in Cropper surged at the end of last month after it reported a sharp rise in profits in the year to 2 April. The company said it was managing to pass price rises onto customers.Top Director BuysGTL Resources (GTL) Director name: Mr Richard RuebeAmount purchased: 32,000 @ 79.00p Value: £25,280Pan Pacific Aggregates (PPA) Director name: Mr Euan McAlpineAmount purchased: 25,000,000 @ 0.100p Value: £25,000Top Director SellsCropper (James) (CRPR) Director name: Mr John DenmanAmount sold: 6,000 @ 218.00p Value: £13,080