Director dealings: Executives tuck in as Snacktime recovers

By PERRY GOURLEY
Published on 22/07/2012 00:00

SNACKTIME, the UK’s third largest operator of vending machines, recently said it saw “exciting opportunities” ahead after a difficult period for the group.

The company admitted that the process of integrating a number of recent acquisitions had proved more complex, costly and time-consuming than expected.

Chairman Jeremy Hamer said that, after a “challenging year of re-organisation and integration”, there were now encouraging signs of progress being made across the group.

“Despite the continuing severe economic conditions, there are exciting opportunities for both growth and operating efficiencies to aim for,” he added.

Snacktime’s latest results showed full-year revenues had increased by 28 per cent and losses before tax reduced to £732,179 for the year ended 31 March, compared with a loss of £2.2m the year earlier.

Shares in the company have fallen by around two thirds over the past year and board members appear to believe they represent good value at current levels.

Following the results, chairman Hamer, made his first purchase of 80,000 shares at 30p each.

Tim James, chief financial officer, also bought 20,000 ordinary shares at 29p each to double his stake to 40,000 shares.

• Jonny Plant, joint chief executive of restaurant operator Tasty, has sold 470,514 shares at 63.76p each to leave him with 3.2 million shares. Some of the shares were bought by fellow chief executive Sam Kaye and non-executive director Adam Kaye.

 Robert Bready, product director of online fashion retailer Asos, has sold 143,125 shares for 1,818p each.

•  Graham Roberts, chief ­executive officer of healthcare group Assura, has bought 1.5 million shares at 30p each. It was his first purchase of shares in the group.

• James Furlong, land ­director of property developer Telford Homes, has bought 33,627 shares at 107p each. He owns around 1.4 million shares in the group.

• Cheong Chia Chieh, managing director of advertising group RedHot Media, has purchased 100,000 shares at 20p each. He now holds 8.4 million shares.