Director Dealings: Dividend hike in store after profits rise

INVESTORS in self-storage group Lok’nStore were rewarded with a significant increase in dividend payments after a solid year of trading.

The company saw operating profits rise by 36 per cent to £2.14 million in the year to the end of July as sales grew by 18 per cent to £12.77m.

The 5p dividend payment represented an increase of around 66 per cent on the previous year’s 3p payment.

Following the results, non-executive Richard 
Holmes bought 12,000 shares at 119.5p each.

n Alan Moug, chief financial officer of Publishing Technology, has bought 50,176 shares at 99p each. He now holds 471,795 shares.

n Nabil Lawandy, chief 
executive of banknote authentication technology firm Spectra Systems, has upped his holding with the purchase of 25,000 shares at 40p each.

He now owns 1.88 million shares in the company, just over 4 per cent of its issued share capital.

n Robert Eckelmann, a non-executive director at Edinburgh-based Wolfson Microelectronics, has almost doubled his holding in the technology company. He purchased 10,000 shares at 211p each and now holds 20,680 shares.

Figures released last week showed the firm had swung back into the black during the third quarter 
after sales of chips for 
mobile phones jumped by 71 per cent year-on-year and tablet chips leapt by 88 per cent.

n Two directors at industrial oils recycling specialist Hydrodec have increased their holdings. Non-executive Andrew Black purchased five million shares at 9.89p per share to take his holding to 68.98 million shares.

Chief financial officer Chris Ellis bought 447,849 shares at 10.75p per share, his first purchase.

n Ian Hunter, investment marketing director of financial services provider Hargreaves Lansdown, has sold 200,000 shares at around 755p each. He still holds 556,916 shares.

Earlier this month, Hargreaves Lansdown said assets had grown to all-time highs in a soft market. Revenues in the three months to the end of September were up by a fifth from a year earlier at £68.7m.