Spirit Pub non-exec increase stake by a third

Tony Rice, a non-executive director of Spirit Pub Company, has bought £152,506-worth of shares, increasing his stake by around a third. The addition of the 206,984 shares, which were bought at 73.68p apiece, take Rice's holding to 810,000 shares. The purchase comes a few weeks after the group toasted a strong third quarter's trading. Spirit's managed estate, which include the Chef & Brewer and Fayre & Square chains, grew like-for-like (LFL) net sales by 6% in the 12 weeks to May 24th, which it said was ahead of the market.Food sales were up by 4.8% and drink sales, which have a moderately higher margin, were up by 7.1% over the same period a year ago and above those of the preceding half-year as well. In the group's improving leased business, LFL turnover was 2.5% higher than the same quarter a year before, but lower than the first half of the year and so dragged the year-to-date figure down to 3%.Top Director BuysSpirit Pub Company (SPRT) Director name: Mr Tony RiceAmount purchased: 206,984 @ 73.68p Value: £152,506Aquarius Platinum Ld (AQP) Director name: Mr Jean NelAmount purchased: 313,290 @ 20.60p Value: £64,538Premier Farnell (PFL) Director name: Mr Mark WhitelingAmount purchased: 50,000 @ 187.90p Value: £93,950Aquarius Platinum Ld (AQP) Director name: Mr Nicholas T SibleyAmount purchased: 31,140 @ 23.39p Value: £7,284Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) Director name: Mr Timothy (Tim) Charles JonesAmount purchased: 3,000 @ 377.90p Value: £11,337Top Director SellsDotDigital Group (DOTD) Director name: Mr Francis Beechinor-CollinsAmount sold: 99,194 @ 33.50p Value: £33,230NR