Director dealings: Marketing trio raise holdings

A TREND by major companies to move away from mass-market direct mailings to more personalised communications is benefiting marketing specialist Communisis.

Operating profits rose 22 per cent to £4.4 million in the six months to 30 June on the back of a 15 per cent increase in turnover to £112.6m. Pre-tax profits slipped from £2.9m to £2.7m as a result of having to pay out professional fees after three acquisitions.

Following the results, three directors went into the market to up their stakes. Chief executive Andy Blundell bought 15,000 shares at 32.9p each to take his total holding to 70,000 shares.

Group managing director Dave Rushton bought 6,549 shares and group commercial director John Wells bought 25,000 shares.

• John Samuel, executive chairman of Tissue Regenix, has upped his already significant stake in the firm. He bought 290,000 shares at 10.25p each and now holds 13.1 million shares.

• Sir William Wells, a non-executive director of publishing and information group Dods, has bought 195,000 shares at 6.50p each. He now holds 445,000 shares.

• David McKinney, chief operating officer of power products firm Volex, has bought 4,220 shares at 236p each.

• John Hamer, the chairman of financial trading systems group Fidessa, has bought 10,000 shares at 1,408.55p each, He now owns 85,131 shares in the company.