Million pound Marks & Sparks purchase
Marks & Spencer shares were on special offer today, with the price slashed from above £5 to barely above £4 after the retailer upset the market with its Christmas trading update.
Recently knighted chief executive Sir Stuart Rose clearly regarded the shares a bargain at the reduced price and spent over £1m to triple his stake in the store.
Rose bought 250,000 shares to take his holding to 750,416. He paid 410.66p per share.
The chairman, Lord Burns, doubled his stake, buying 24,316 shares at a price of 411.25p per share, while two other directors, Steve Esom and Carl Leaver, also showed their support with maiden purchases.
Steve Esom, director of foods, spent just under £100,000 on 24,360 shares at 410.5p each, while Carl Leaver, the former Waitrose MD who is now director of International Business at M&S, spent £73,595 on 17,954 shares, purchased at just under 410p each.
Marks and Spencer shares lost around a fifth of their value Wednesday after the retailer reported a fall in its third quarter like for like sales in the UK, surprising analysts who had been expecting continued sales growth.
M&S said UK like for like sales during the 13 weeks to 29 December fell 2.2% due to more challenging market conditions in November and December.
Group sales were 2.8% higher, however, with UK sales 2% better as a 5.1% increase in food sales offset a 0.7% slip in General Merchandise. International sales jumped 15.1%.
Chief executive Stuart Rose said the group had a strong start to the Christmas sale, but trading conditions are expected to remain tough throughout 2008 and even into the early part of 2009.
"We are battening down the hatches a bit," Rose said during an interview on the BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme.
The company's finance director, Ian Dyson, tried to put a positive spin on the trading update, claiming the business "is in as good a shape as it has ever been."
Dyson said the company had managed to hold on to its recent gains in market share. ""We have had nine quarters of like-for-like growth; this is one quarter of decline," Dyson said.
Top Director Buys
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS)
Director name: Mr Stuart Rose
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 410.66p
Value: £1,026,650
Berkeley Group Holdings Units (BKG)
Director name: Mr Anthony W Pidgley
Amount purchased: 30,000 @ 963.00p
Value: £288,900
easyJet (EZJ)
Director name: Mr Andrew Harrison
Amount purchased: 58,397 @ 424.28p
(Article continues below)Advertisement
Value: £247,767
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS)
Director name: Lord Terence (Terry) Burns
Amount purchased: 24,316 @ 411.25p
Value: £100,000
Ceramic Fuel Cells (CFU)
Director name: Mr Jeff Harding
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 24.35p
Value: £12,175
Axis-Shield (ASD)
Director name: Mr Nigel J Keen
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 268.00p
Value: £26,800
Sovereign Reversions (SVN)
Director name: Mr Robert Lo
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 258.13p
Value: £25,813
Just Retirement (JR.)
Director name: Mr Simon Thomas
Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 115.00p
Value: £23,000
Top Director Sells
None
