Chief executive's wife buys Northgate shares

24th Jan 2011 16:35

Robert Contreras's wife has acquired nearly £20,000 worth of shares in light commercial vehicle hirer Northgate. Contreras was appointed chief executive in June last year. For the previous two years he had been finance director. There were 6,800 shares acquired at 294p each. The couple's holding has increased to 111,800 shares. The previous purchase of shares was in October 2009 when 6,001 shares were bought for 241.5p a share. Northgate has improved its efficiency and reduced its fleet of vans. Utilisation rates increased to 92% from 91% in the UK, where the fleet size reduced to 60,700 from 60,900, and to 90% from 88% in Spain, where the fleet size fell to 45,900 from 48,900. Pre-tax profits climbed to £27.2m in the six months to October 2010 from £22m over the same period the previous year. Revenues fell to £367.9m from £374.3m.When the interims were published in December, Panmure Gordon said that pre-tax profit was 16% higher than it expected. Even so, the broker remained cautious about the prospects in Spain and set a target price of 175p, when the shares were trading at 216p. That target price is 119p lower than the buying price of the latest share deal. Top Director Buys Reconstruction Capital II Ltd. (RC2) Director name: Mr Ion Alexander FlorescuAmount purchased: 84,109 @ € 0.62 Value: € 52,568Delcam (DLC) Director name: Mr Bartholomew James SimpsonAmount purchased: 5,000 @ 400.00p Value: £20,000Northgate (NTG) Director name: Mr Bob (Robert) ContrerasAmount purchased: 6,800 @ 294.00p Value: £19,992Accumuli (ACM) Director name: Mr Simon DuckworthAmount purchased: 125,000 @ 8.05p Value: £10,063Delcam (DLC) Director name: Mr Edward B LambourneAmount purchased: 2,500 @ 400.00p Value: £10,000Top Director Sells Delcam (DLC) Director name: Mr Bartholomew James SimpsonAmount sold: 5,000 @ 399.40p Value: £19,970