29th Feb 2016 17:10
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of director dealings reported in London on Monday.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group said its three top leaders bought roughly GBP968,000 in shares after the state-backed lender reported its eighth straight annual loss on Friday.
Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan and Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson each bought 200,000 shares at GBP2.230 and GBP2.232 each, respectively.
In addition, the bank's new chairman, Howard Davies, bought 40,000 shares at GBP2.221 each.
Davies, who assumed the role last September, replacing Philip Hampton, was deputy governor of the Bank of England from 1995 to 1997 and chairman of the UK Financial Services Authority from 1997 to 2003.
In the midst of restructuring, the Edinburgh-based bank's net loss narrowed to GBP1.98 billion in 2015 from GBP3.47 billion in 2014. Adjusted operating profit, which strips out restructuring and litigation costs, among other items, fell to GBP4.41 billion from GBP6.06 billion, due to lower income and asset disposals.
The stock closed down 1.1% at 224.08p Monday.
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State-backed lender Lloyds Banking Group said Non-Executive Director Nick Prettejohn bought 69,280 shares at a price of 72.17 pence per share Friday.
His total shareholding was undisclosed.
In April 2014, Lloyds appointed Prettejohn as the chairman of Scottish Widows Group, meaning Lord Blackwell, who succeeded Win Bischoff as group chairman earlier in April, can concentrate on his new group role.
Prettejohn was also made an independent non-executive director on the group's board. He also will be a member of the group's Audit and Risk Committees.
The stock closed up 0.1% at 72.04p Monday.
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Pearson said Chief Financial Officer Coram Williams bought shares in the education and publishing group after it reported an annual loss. Williams bought 5,000 shares at 836 pence each on Monday and now holds 5,010 shares. Pearson on Friday said it swung to a loss in 2015 due to the huge restructuring it is undertaking to return itself to health, as sales also dipped in competitive markets. Pearson said stability will start to return only by 2018. The FTSE 100 constituent said it swung to a pretax loss of GBP433.0 million for the year to the end of December, compared to a GBP255.0 million profit in 2014, primarily due to the one-off costs the group will book for the restructuring programme. The stock closed up 3.0% at 861.15p Monday.
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Outsourcer Serco Group said Chairman Roy Gardner bought 20,000 shares at a price of 95.6766 pence per share on Friday. Following this transaction, Gardner holds 45,000 shares. The stock closed down 1.8% at 93.90p Monday.
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Spirent Communications said Chief Executive Officer Eric Hutchinson bought shares in two tranches on Friday. Hutchinson bought 297,464 shares at 83.6000p each and 58,787 shares at 84.5000p each. After these transactions Hutchinson increased his beneficial interest to 1.7 million shares, or 0.282% of the issued share capital. Additionally, the company said Chairman Alex Walker bought 60,365 shares at 82.4389p each and now holds 331,324 shares. Non-Executive Director Jonathan Silver bought 40,000 shares at 85.0283p each and now holds 70,000 shares. Non-Executive Director Tom Lantzsch bought 60,000 shares at 84.0066p each on Friday. The purchase is his only holding. Shares in the communications technology company closed up 1.8% at 84.50p Monday.
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William Hill said Non-Executive Director Roy Gardner bought 2,600 shares at a price of 398.9964 pence per share on Friday. Following this transaction, Gardner now holds 12,600 shares, equivalent to less than 0.1% of the bookmaker's issued share capital. William Hill on Friday reported a drop in profit in 2015, as revenue fell slightly following a tough comparative period which included the football World Cup and as it faced additional gambling duties in the UK, but increased its dividend payout ratio and announced a share buyback. The stock closed up 3.1% at 410.40p Monday.
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Tristel said Chairman Francisco Soler bought 112,038 shares at a price of 114.7 pence per share on Friday. Following this transaction, Soler holds 10.8 million shares which represents 25.6% stake in the infection protection, contamination control and hygiene products manufacturer. The stock closed down 1.3% at 114.00p Monday.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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