Future executives trim holdings, share price slides

Senior management in Future have trimmed their holdings in the media firm as part of a £44.0m share sale.

Zillah Byng-Thorne, chief executive, and Penny Ladkin-Brand, chief financial officer, sold 1.045m and 550,000 shares respectively. Following the sale, both were left owning around 0.5% of the company each. The other sellers – 17 current or former employees – sold a further 1.527m.

The shares, which represented roughly 3.0% of the company's issued share capital, were sold at £14.00 per share, raising a total of £43.7m.

In a statement, Future said the company would not receive any proceeds from the placing, however, which was carried out after share options were exercised. Proceeds from the sale of Byng-Thorne’s and Ladkin-Brand’s shares would in part be used to satisfy certain tax obligations and other costs associated with the vesting of options, Future confirmed.

David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “Ordinarily it looks bad when top executives in a company are seeking to trim their positions in the firm, but earlier this month the share price hit a record high so they are doing it from a position of high.”

As at 1200 GMT, shares in Bath-based Future were off 8% at £14.50, making it the biggest faller in the FTSE 250.