Director dealings: Taylor Wimpey chairman's wife lowers stake

Jayne Beeston, the wife of Taylor Wimpey's chairman Kevin Beeston, sold 550,000 ordinary shares in the FTSE 100 housebuilder on Thursday

Beeston disposed of the shares at an average price of 201.24p each for a total of £1.10m.

With continuing solid consumer demand throughout the first quarter of its trading year, Taylor Wimpey reported an average of 0.85 private sales per outlet per week, just behind the 0.93 seen a year earlier, and in line with its expectations, while cancellation rates remained low at 13%.

As of 22 April, Wimpey's total order book value stood at approximately £2.15m, or 9,050 homes, compared to the £2.21m record a year ago.

Pete Redfern, Taylor Wimpey's chief executive, said, "We have continued to see good demand for new housing through early 2018. Looking ahead, as we embark on the next stage of our strategy, our focus is on building our capability to deliver great quality homes and places for our customers over the long term."

As of 1530 BST, Taylor Wimpey shares had crawled ahead 0.995 to 202.18p.

Top Director Buys

Arrow Global Group (ARW)

Director name: Mr Lee Rochford

Amount purchased: 34,575 @ 289.00p

Value: £99,922

Arrow Global Group (ARW)

Director name: Mr Paul Cooper

Amount purchased: 34,800 @ 285.00p

Value: £99,180

Georgia Healthcare Group (GHG)

Director name: Mr Nikoloz Gamkrelidze

Amount purchased: 26,944 @ 272.00p

Value: £73,288

Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX)

Director name: Mr Peter France

Amount purchased: 821 @ 6,085.00p

Value: £49,958

Arrow Global Group (ARW)

Director name: Mr Andrew C Fisher

Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 294.00p

Value: £29,400

Arrow Global Group (ARW)

Director name: Mr Jonathan Bloomer

Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 290.00p

Value: £29,000

Top Director Sells

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)

Director name: Mr Kevin S Beeston

Amount sold: 550,000 @ 201.24p

Value: £1,106,820

Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX)

Director name: Mr Andy Robson

Amount sold: 1,465 @ 6,027.33p

Value: £88,300