Director dealings

FINANCIAL advice group Cavanagh recently admitted that it might have to sacrifice some short-term profitability to ensure the company can make the most of long-term opportunities.

It is focusing on a business model to make it less dependent on up-front commission, and more than 65 per cent of the group's revenues are now being generated from recurring income and fees.

The group, which has offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, reported a fall in profits for the first half of the year to 544,000 from 700,000 in the same period last year, reflecting tough market conditions. But net debt fell to 335,000 from 402,000.

Last week two directors upped their stake in the company, suggesting confidence in the long-term strategy.

Chief executive Andrew Fay bought 190,667 shares at 45p each to take his holding up to 2.4 million shares. Managing director Simon Redgrove bought 190,667 shares at the same price to increase his stake to 2.36 million.

• Mitchell Field, a non-executive director at AFC Energy, has reduced his stake with the sale of 339,909 shares at an average price of 73.9p each. He still retains a holding of 2.1 million shares.

• Malcolm Coster, chairman of specialist textiles group Fiberweb, has purchased 50,000 shares at 82p each. He now holds 486,449 shares.

• Pang Yi, a director of orange grower Asian Citrus, has bought his first stake in the company. He purchased 317,000 shares at around 75p each in the company which has seen its shares double over the past year.

• Terry Smith, outgoing chairman of stockbrokers Collins Stewart, has sold just under 9 million shares in the firm at 80p each.

This month Smith said he was leaving the board to focus on his role as chief executive at inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon.

• Sir Mark Wrightson, a non-executive director at insurer Amlin, has upped his stake in the company with the purchase of 5,000 shares at 395.75p each

• Mitchell Field, a non-executive director at fuel cell company AFC Energy, has sold 339,909 shares at 73.91p each. He still owns more than 1.2 per cent of the shares in issue.

• John Jackson, a non-executive director of property group Rugby Estates, has bought 10,000 shares at 328p per share each. He now holds 55,212 shares in the company.