Lo-Q sale proves satisfying

SHARES in Lo-Q, the technology company which develops queuing systems for theme parks and attractions, have risen by almost 75 per cent over the past year as demand continued to grow.

Last week its latest annual results showed impressive financial progress with pre-tax profits up by 17.4 per cent to £2.7 million on a 20 per cent increase in sales to £24.5m.

Following the results the company also announced it had signed up its 11th US water theme park to its Q-band virtual queuing system.

Visitors rent an electronic wristband which enables them to reserve a “virtual” place in line at a park’s most popular slides using kiosks located throughout the park.

Following the announcements, director Leonard Sim sold 750,000 shares at 252p although the company stressed the move was to satisfy institutional demand for the stock. He still owns almost 2.5 million shares in the company.

n Philip Cammerman, a non-executive director of specialist engineering group Pressure Technologies, has purchased 2,000 shares at 165p each to increase his holding to 28,395 shares.

n Frank Nelson, finance director of Galliford Try, has sold part of his stake in the construction group. Nelson sold 85,000 shares at 547.7p each, to reduce his stake to just under 80,000 shares. Last week the firm announced strong profit growth for the half year ended 31 December.

n Mike Inglis, executive vice-president and general manager of the processor division of chip designer ARM, has sold more than £1.6m of shares. He disposed of 291,651 shares at 562.25p each but retains a stake of 200,000 shares.

n Richard Gledhill, non-executive director at material group Surface Transforms, bought 100,000 shares at 11p a share to increase his holding to 7.6 million shares.

n Julian Schild, a non-executive director at Telecom Plus has upped his stake following a positive trading update from the utilities supplier. Schild purchased 15,000 shares at around 611p each.

n Mark Williamson, chief financial officer of electricity generation group International Power has sold his shares in the company. He disposed of 409,684 shares at 344.50p each.

n Baroness Shriti Vadera, a non-executive director of mining group BHP Billiton, has almost doubled her stake. She purchased 4,000 shares at 2,079p each.