Director dealings: Food firm chiefs get their fill of shares

Published on 02/09/2012 00:00

AFTER returning to growth in sales and profits last year, ingredients firm Real Good Food Company has embarked on a three-year plan to “transform the scale of the business”.

The company owns divisions including Renshaw, which operates a site at Carluke in Lanarkshire which produces jams and preserves under the R&W Scott brand.

It also owns the largest independent non-refining distributor of sugar in 
Europe, Napier Brown, 
and a bakery products manufacturer.

Shares in the company have done little over the past year, but recent activity by shareholders and 
directors suggests confidence in the long-term strategy being pursued.

In June, a Mauritius-based company, Omnicane, paid 60p a share to increase its holding to 20 per cent in a move which reduced Real Good Food’s borrowings.

Last week, non-executive director Peter Salter bought 50,000 shares at 46p each and now holds 131,000. 
Earlier in the month he had bought 50,000 shares.

Fellow non-executive Christopher Thomas also purchased 40,000 shares in July to increase his stake to 240,363 shares.

• John Laughlin, head of sales at model group Games Workshop, has bought 2,000 shares at 698p each. The purchase increases his holding to 18,582 shares.

• David Holland, a non-
executive director at housebuilder Telford Homes, has sold 50,000 shares at 115p each. He still holds 958,143 shares in the company.

• Peter Stephens, who will step down from hygiene control firm Tristel later this year, has sold 50,000 shares at 35p each to cut his stake to 728,521 shares.

• Iain Ferguson, chairman of facilities provider Berendsen, has bought 10,000 shares following strong 
results. He bought the shares at 520.5p and now holds 110,000 shares.

• Mandy Gradden, a non-executive director of information technology group SDL, has bought 7,500 shares. The investment, costing just under £50,000, was her first purchase of shares in the group.

• Gordon Haslam, non-
executive director at gold miner Centamin, has bought 52,056 shares at 76p each, more than doubling his holding.