Director Dealings: Hyder seeks cost cuts

ALTHOUGH Hyder Consulting's international spread of work has helped protect it from the worst of the downturn, it is still looking to cut costs.

The civil engineering consultancy has seen its order book grow to almost 400m on the back of strong performance and new contract wins in regions such as the Middle East.

Despite that the firm, which plans and designs rail, road and water networks, is cautious about its prospects for the current year and has seen a slowdown in other locations, including the UK and Australia.

Earlier this month Hyder said it was looking to reduce its workforce by around 8%, but the company said it believed the cost-cutting and its low gearing gave it confidence for the longer term.

Purchases by three directors last week appeared to provide support for that view.

Chief executive Ivor Catto bought 10,000 shares at 124p each and now holds 32,625 shares, finance director Russell Down bought 15,000 at the same price to increase his stake to 23,581 and non-executive director Paul Withers doubled his stake with the purchase of 15,000 shares at 130p.

• Hugh Aldous, the newly appointed chairman of vocational training group Melorio, has bought 98,000 shares at 76p.

• Lee Ginsberg, finance director at Domino's Pizza, has bought 88,000 shares at 210p each in the firm, which recently reported a strong start to 2009.

• Paul Skinner, chairman of mining group Rio Tinto, has bought 4,000 shares at 1,969.50p each. Non-executive director Lord Kerr also purchased the same amount.

• Ronnie Kells, chairman of healthcare distribution firm United Drug, has upped his family's stake in the company.

Kells and his wife each bought 10,000 shares at 160p each to increase their combined stake to 165,000 shares.

The purchases came after the company warned that results for the first half of the year were likely to come in lower due to tough trading conditions and the weakness of sterling.