Director dealings: Breedon feels results will be set in concrete

Sales volumes of aggregates and ready-mixed concrete were ahead in both England and Scotland and overall revenue in the second half of the year has been slightly stronger than the first half.

Following the trading update, four directors went into the market to increase their holdings. David Warr, a non-executive director, was the biggest buyer with a purchase of a million shares.

Executive chairman Peter Tom bought 750,000 shares and non-executives David Williams and Susie Farnon bought 750,000 shares between them. They each paid 20p for the shares. Shares in the company have risen almost 30 per cent in the past year.

• Guy Elliott, a non-executive director at the Copper Development Corporation, has bought 108,308 shares at 3p to take his total holding to 3.6 million.

• Jeffrey Thrall, chairman of Aberdeen-based oil and gas engineering services firm Plexus Holdings, has bought 4,000 shares at 260p each. He now holds 704,000 shares.

• Joe Rose, a director at business process management company Kofax, has increased his stake to 20,000 shares at 293.4p. He now holds 100,000 shares.

• Three directors at travel company TUI have sold shares in the group following strong full-year results.

Chief executive Peter Long sold 748,729 shares, deputy chief executive Johan Lundgren sold 350,000 shares and chief financial officer William Waggott sold 120,000. All of the shares were sold at 277.21p each.

Last week TUI hailed a “renaissance” of the package holiday as it reported an 8 per cent leap in underlying pre-tax profits to £390m. Profits at its UK and Ireland division grew 32 per cent to £197m as customers opted for its highly profitable range of “unique” branded holidays.

In its full-year results, it said customers were once again opting for the certainty of all-inclusive package deals and reported strong demand for holidays next year as households look to avoid a repeat of last summer’s washout.