Telecity chief shows faith in the company

Telecity's Chief Executive Officer has bought shares in the company in a bid to show his confidence in the company's new Finnish acquisition, which on Monday proved decidedly unpopular, with shares dropping almost nine per cent. Michael Tobin made the modest purchase of 2,000 at 843.60p. The £16,872 purchase takes his stake in the company to 616,000 shares, equal to around 0.31% of the issued share capital. The company announced that it has acquired Finnish company Academica for €28m in cash. Academica operates data centres in Helsinki, and has 1MW of operational capacity and a secured capacity pipeline of 3MW. The purchase is a strategic move to establish a leading position in this growing market, the firm said. However, analyst James Goodman at Investec has commented that the acquisition was "very expensive". That said, he did add that, "the business has an expansion plan to quadruple the capacity to 4MW which would clearly lessen the price, but would depend on the incremental capital expenditure required". In a statement released on Monday, Tobin, said: "I am pleased with Telecity Group's progress to date in 2012. Notwithstanding the continuing barriers to entry in all major locations, we have delivered major capacity expansion projects across Europe to underpin future growth." The announcement came as the firm reported a period of "robust" trading and confirmed that earnings for the full year will be in line with market estimates. Consensus estimates for the full year ending December 31st are for pre-tax profits of £81.66m on revenues of £284.35m. With estimated earnings per share of 30.76p, it is on a forward price earnings ratio of 29.7 for 2012, dropping to 23.6 in 2013. Top Director BuysWhitbread (WTB) Director name: Mr Richard Baker Amount purchased: 4,094 @ 2,357.00p Value: £96,496Whitbread (WTB) Director name: Ms Susan Mary HooperAmount purchased: 800 @ 2,412.90p Value: £19,303Telecity Group (TCY) Director name: Mr Michael TobinAmount purchased: 2,000 @ 843.60p Value: £16,872Top Director SellsM. P. Evans Group (MPE) Director name: Mr James Derek ShawAmount sold: 5,000 @ 498.00p Value: £24,900M. P. Evans Group (MPE) Director name: Mr James Derek ShawAmount sold: 3,793 @ 495.00p Value: £18,775Arden Partners (ARDN) Director name: Mr Jonathan B KeelingAmount sold: 25,000 @ 50.00p Value: £12,500