Director Dealings: Hard winter fails to cool Dunelm chiefs' confidence

HOME furnishings retailer Dunelm, which operates seven stores across Scotland, recently reported a drop in like-for-like sales and said rising costs and uncertain consumer demand made predictions for future trading difficult.

The extreme weather in November and December saw the sales growth the group enjoyed in the first quarter of the financial year come to a halt and leave overall sales down 1.2 per cent in the six months to 1 January. But despite tough times throughout retailing, deputy chairman Will Adderley said he was confident the group's financial strength and entrepreneurial flexibility "would help it navigate through this period and build a stronger business for the long term".

Last week the wife of new chief executive Nick Wharton bought 17,500 shares at 425p each to take the couple's stake up to 30,000 shares. Marion Sears, a non-executive director, also bought 1,313 shares at 423p each to take her holding up to 101,313 shares.

• Several directors at sausage skin producer Devro have bought shares following strong results last week. Chairman Steve Hannam, bought 16,616 shares to take his holding up to 149,306 shares. Chief executive Peter Page bought 3,850 shares and now holds 396,607 in total. Non-executives Paul Neep and Stuart Paterson bought 6,070 and 5,000 shares respectively. The board members paid between 240p and 256p for the shares.

• Dr Chris Richards, a non-executive director at Dechra Pharmaceuticals, purchased 4,000 shares at 510p. It was his first investment in the group.

• Sir John Parker, chairman of mining giant Anglo American, has bought 3,000 shares at 3,238p each.

• Dick Olver, chairman of defence group BAE Systems, has bought 3,343 shares at 337p each and his wife acquired 3,133 shares at 338p each.

• Robert Walker, chairman of builders' merchant Travis Perkins, has bought 15,000 shares at 994.75p each to take his holding up to 80,000 shares. The investment came after the company announced a strong profit performance last year.

• Three directors at insurance group Randall & Quilter have bought shares. Kevin McNamara bought 100,000 shares, Michael Smith 25,000 and Jo Welman 17,000. Alex Welman, the wife of Jo Welman who is also a non-executive director, bought 10,000 shares. They paid 98p each for the shares.

• Andy Raynor, chief executive of RSM Tenon, has bought 50,000 shares at 43.5p each. The purchase took his holding up to 2.2 million shares.

• Michael Tobin, chief executive of hosting group Telecity, has bought 2,000 shares at 479p each.