British American finance boss sells shares

22nd Sep 2009 16:16

British American Tobacco finance boss Ben Stevens has pocketed nearly £200,000 after offloading some of his stake in the Lucky Strike maker.He sold 5,000 shares at 1,981p a share and 5,000 at 1,969p. He now has just more than 95,000.Stevens has been with British American since 1990. He joined the board in 2008, having worked for the firm in roles in Switzerland, Pakistan and Russia.News of his purchase comes on the same day British American's big rival Imperial Tobacco, best known in the UK for its Lambert & Butler cigarettes, said performance in the year to end-September remains in line with management's expectations. The integration of Gauloises and Gitanes maker Altadis is going well, the company said, and is on track to deliver the expected synergies.British American has also been on the acquisition trail and in July, it hiked its dividend by a quarter as the acquisitions continued to drive the firm's profits higher. Pre-tax profits in the six months to June 30 climbed to £2.1bn from £1.8bn over the same period the previous year as revenues rose to £19.1bn from £15bn. The Lucky Strike firm upped its interim dividend to 27.9p from 22.1p a year ago. British American acquired Denmark's Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni and Tekel in Turkey last year.Top Director BuysSymphony International Holdings (SIHL) Director name: Mr Anil ThadaniAmount purchased: 250,000 @ $0.40 Value: $100,000Merchants Trust (MRCH) Director name: Mr Simon FraserAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 332.00p Value: £66,400Kofax (KFX) Director name: Mr Christopher J ConwayAmount purchased: 25,000 @ 146.00p Value: £36,500Merchant Securities (MERC) Director name: Mr Patrick ClaridgeAmount purchased: 300,000 @ 9.00p Value: £27,000DataCash Group (DATA) Director name: Mr David BaileyAmount purchased: 10,000 @ 208.00p Value: £20,800Games Workshop Group (GAW) Director name: Mr Mark WellsAmount purchased: 5,510 @ 305.00p Value: £16,806Top Director SellsDiageo (DGE) Director name: Mr Paul S WalshAmount sold: 99,000 @ 985.30p Value: £975,447Western Canadian Coal Corporation (WTN) Director name: Mr John William HoggAmount sold: 120,000 @ 169.58p Value: £203,496General Electric (GEC) Director name: Mr John G. RiceAmount sold: 12,825 @ € 11.49 Value: € 147,407General Electric (GEC) Director name: Mr Keith S. SherinAmount sold: 12,615 @ € 11.49 Value: € 144,993General Electric (GEC) Director name: Mr Michael A. NealAmount sold: 9,672 @ € 11.49 Value: € 111,167Atkins (WS) (ATK) Director name: Mr Keith ClarkeAmount sold: 16,158 @ 650.10p Value: £105,043British American Tobacco (BATS) Director name: Mr Ben StevensAmount sold: 5,000 @ 1,981.00p Value: £99,050British American Tobacco (BATS) Director name: Mr Ben StevensAmount sold: 5,000 @ 1,969.00p Value: £98,450Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) Director name: Mr Colin P SmithAmount sold: 15,444 @ 485.10p Value: £74,919General Electric (GEC) Director name: Mr Brackett B. DennistonAmount sold: 3,353 @ € 11.49 Value: € 38,538