| CATEGORY: DEALINGS ROUND-UP SECTOR: SOFTWARE & COMPUTER SERVICES |
Micro Focus men dive in after warning |
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Mon 27 Feb 2006
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LONDON (SHARECAST) - Directors of beleaguered software house Micro Focus decided the shares have fallen far enough after last week’s profit warning, prompting bosses to dip their hands in their pockets.
Chairman and acting boss Kevin Loosemore was the biggest spender, shelling out over £177,000 on 240,000 shares at 74p a throw. He now owns 406,640 shares, or 0.2% of the company.
Chief financial officer Nicholas Bray and non-executive director David Maloney also chipped in with buys of 20,000 and 17,300 respectively, taking the total value of today’s director purchases to over £200,000.
The shares reacted well to the news, climbing more than 11% to 80p having closed at 72p on Friday, a new all-time low.
Last Thursday the company warned that it is unlikely that total revenues will exceed $140m for the year to 30 April 2006, mainly due to continuing sales execution issues.
Following the poor performance, Tony Hill stepped down from both his role as chief executive and from the board with immediate effect. Loosemore is now filling the bosses role.
The Newbury-based group only floated in May last year at 130p per share, well below the previously indicated range of between 145p and 185p.
In the end, the listing raised just over £66m, valuing the company at almost £260m.
Top Director Buys
Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO)
Director name: Mr Kevin Loosemore
Amount purchased: 240,000 @ 74.00p
Value: £177,600
easyJet (EZJ)
Director name: Mr Andrew Harrison
Amount purchased: 34,751 @ 378.00p
Value: £131,359
BT Group (BT.A)
Director name: Mr Matti Alahuhta
Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 209.84p
Value: £41,968
THB Group (THB)
Director name: Mr Clive Williams
Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 100.00p
Value: £25,000
Private Equity Investor (PEQ)
Director name: Lady Barbara S (Thomas) Judge
Amount purchased: 12,500 @ 158.90p
Value: £19,862
Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO)
Director name: Mr Nicholas Bray
Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 74.00p
Value: £14,800
Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO)
Director name: Mr David Maloney
Amount purchased: 17,308 @ 74.00p
Value: £12,808
Top Director Sells
Domino's Pizza (DOM)
Director name: Mr Stephen Hemsley
Amount sold: 992,302 @ 405.00p
Value: £4,018,823
Randgold Resources (RRS)
Director name: Dr D Mark Bristow
Amount sold: 95,000 @ 1,000.09p
Value: £950,086
Domino's Pizza (DOM)
Director name: Mr Chris Moore
Amount sold: 198,250 @ 405.00p
Value: £802,912
BG Group (BG.)
Director name: Mr Dave Roberts
Amount sold: 84,835 @ 684.50p
Value: £580,696
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| MCRO - Micro Focus International Plc |
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| Latest Prices |
| Name |
Price |
% |
| Micro Focus International Plc |
309.00p |
+2.69% |
| BG Group |
1,083.50p |
+0.51% |
| BT Group |
135.90p |
-0.59% |
| Domino's Pizza UK & IRL |
448.90p |
+3.41% |
| easyJet |
369.30p |
+2.78% |
| Private Equity Investor |
125.75p |
-0.20% |
| Randgold Resources |
5,970.00p |
-0.67% |
| THB Group |
56.00p |
-0.89% |
| |
| FTSE 100 |
5,367 |
+0.01% |
| FTSE 250 |
10,146 |
+0.85% |
| FTSE 350 |
2,833 |
+0.12% |
| FTSE AIM 100 |
3,211 |
+0.48% |
| FTSE AIM 50 |
2,896 |
+0.06% |
| FTSE AIM All-Share |
702 |
+0.67% |
| FTSE All-Share |
2,771 |
+0.14% |
| FTSE Small Cap |
2,831 |
+0.54% |
| techMARK |
1,672 |
+0.28% |
| techMARK 100 |
1,841 |
+0.67% |
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