Director dealings: High-growth China Food proves a tasty prospect

CHINA Food, which specialises in producing cooking sauces, is seeing the benefits of a new factory with sales up by more than 20 per cent in the first four months of the year as it takes advantage of increased capacity.

With production rising, the Aim-listed company is now planning a major sales and marketing push with the initial focus on Jinan, capital city of the Shandong province which has a population of 6.7 million.

A new office has also been established in Beijing, with an initial headcount of 10 people, in order to further develop the sales strategy.

Following a placing which raised 2.7 million last month the company said it was in a strong working capital position to capitalise on opportunities.

The company did caution that while China is expected to post GDP growth of more than 9 per cent this year, inflation remains high.

While China Food said it does not anticipate that inflation will affect the condiments business, it said it remains cautious over the potential impact on its separate animal feed business.

Following the update in the AGM statement, chairman John McLean has increased his holding with the purchase of 50,000 shares at 49p each. He now holds 373,655 shares.

• Tim Steel, a non-executive director at laser specialist ProPhotonix, has bought 25,000 shares at 13p each. He now holds 328,000 shares.

• Tong Wong Chow, chairman of orange grower Asian Citrus Holdings, has bought 200,000 shares at an average of 58.36p each. It was his first purchase of shares in the company which in February announced pre-tax profits had more than doubled.

• Nigel Christie, chairman of Peru-focused Maple Energy, has bought 42,000 shares at 57p each for his pension fund. The purchase took his stake up to 100,000 shares.

• Iain Ferguson, a non-executive director at Berendsen, has spent 75,000 on shares in the textile service company.

He bought 15,000 shares at 496p a time and now holds 40,000.

• Ian West, a non-executive director at telecoms company TalkTalk, has bought 181,700 shares at 137.5p each to increase his stake to 346,023 shares. Earlier this month the company announced a strong rise in pre-tax profits as monthly subscriptions increased.

• Two directors at energy group Cadogan Petroleum have increased their holdings. Chief executive Ian Baron and finance director Gordon Stein bought 150,000 shares and 68,685 shares respectively at 42.25p a time. Baron now holds 650,000 and Stein 193,685. In April the firm announced plans to sell part of its interest in two oilfields to Italian energy company Eni.

• John Charlton, a non-executive director at exploration group Gold Oil, has doubled his stake in the business. He bought 125,000 shares at 3.58p each.

• Cesar Izuel, chairman of British Airways parent company International Consolidated Airlines, has bought his first stake in the company. He bought more than a million shares at around 235p each.