Director dealings: Essentra boss ups stake

Paul Forman, chief executive of plastic and fibre products manufacturer Essentra, acquired £85,900 worth of shares in the firm on Friday.

Forman, who has headed up Essentra since January 2017, acquired a total of 20,000 ordinary shares at a cost of 429.50p each.

Essentra saw revenue decrease 2% on a like-for-like basis in its last trading year as a continued strong result in its component solutions wing and a material improvement in its filter products business in the second half was mostly offset by a continued decline in it its health and personal care packaging operations.

Earnings per share dropped 30.1% to 22.1p in the year ended 31 December, however, Essentra did successfully reduce its net debt to £211m from the £379m posted a year earlier.

As of 1500 BST, shares had dropped 0.23% to 425.80p.