Director dealings: Crook adds to Provident holding after shares drop 20pct

29th Jun 2016 14:22

(ShareCast News) - Provident Financial chief executive Peter Crook spent £0.57m on shares in the non-standard lender after they lost a fifth of their value in the fallout from the Brexit result.Crook, former UK managing director at Barclaycard who was appointed to the Provident board in 2006, snapped up 25,000 shares at a price of 2,279.87p apiece on Tuesday.The FTSE 100 company's shares had been trading at almost 2,920p on Thursday, and had topped 3,600p as recently as December, before they fell below the 2,140p mark at one point on the Monday after the UK's referendum decision to leave the European Union.In May Provident had confirmed its good start to the year with the profit performance of all businesses in line with or above internal plans for the first quarter, driven by growth in its Vanquis credit card unit.The group, which provides financial services to people with low credit ratings, said Vanquis Bank delivered year-on-year average receivables growth of 13% in the first quarter and profit growth modestly ahead of that supported by robust margins, operational gearing and lower funding costs.On Wednesday, JP Morgan's financials team said Provident was its top pick in the specialist lenders sub-sector, though it noted that specialist lenders were at risk of deteriorating macro backdrop.The company, on which it has an 'overweight' rating, "could come under pressure, their specialized diverse product offering and unique customer characteristics renders the business less susceptible to a potential macro downturn, in our view, and offers a compelling dividend yield of 5%".Broker Canaccord also added Provident to its select list, saying the "has, as much through luck as judgement, benefited from not building its loan book in the weeks prior to the Brexit referendum, and navigated the 2008-9 financial crisis very effectively".Top Director BuysProvident Financial (PFG)Director name: Crook,PeterAmount purchased: 25,000 @ 2,279.87pValue: £569,967.51Provident Financial (PFG)Director name: Fisher,Andrew CAmount purchased: 22,000 @ 2,279.87pValue: £501,571.41Provident Financial (PFG)Director name: Wolstenholme,ManjitAmount purchased: 6,533 @ 2,279.87pValue: £148,943.91Derwent London (DLN)Director name: Silverman,DavidAmount purchased: 4,256 @ 2,349.60pValue: £99,998.98Huntsworth (HNT)Director name: Taaffe,PaulAmount purchased: 200,000 @ 40.36pValue: £80,720.00Papillon Holdings (PPHP)Director name: Longley,James Amount purchased: 4,950,000 @ 1.05pValue: £52,077.96Marshalls (MSLH)Director name: Edwards,Mark Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 225.00pValue: £45,000.00Omg (OMG)Director name: Parry,RogerAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 42.25pValue: £42,250.00Primary Health Properties (PHP)Director name: Jones,AlunAmount purchased: 40,000 @ 102.25pValue: £40,900.00Halfords Group (HFD)Director name: Millard,Dennis HAmount purchased: 10,000 @ 311.78pValue: £31,178.01Banco Santander S.a. (BNC)Director name: Carnegie-Brown,BruceAmount purchased: 10,000 @ € 3.43Value: € 29,982.52Northgate (NTG)Director name: Spencer ,Bill Amount purchased: 8,000 @ 324.87pValue: £25,989.60Globalworth Real Estate Investments Limited (GWI)Director name: Papalekas,Ioannis Amount purchased: 5,000 @ € 5.10Value: € 25,500.00Berkeley Group Holdings (the) (BKG)Director name: Myers,AndyAmount purchased: 1,000 @ 2,374.00pValue: £23,740.00Berkeley Group Holdings (the) (BKG)Director name: Wadley,VeronicaAmount purchased: 1,000 @ 2,352.00pValue: £23,520.00Mj Gleeson (GLE)Director name: Allanson ,Stefan Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 388.80pValue: £19,440.00Next Fifteen Communications (NFC)Director name: Eyre,RichardAmount purchased: 6,136 @ 242.00pValue: £14,849.12Town Centre Securities (TOWN)Director name: Syers ,Duncan Sinclair Amount purchased: 3,508 @ 284.00pValue: £9,962.72Brown (n.) Group (BWNG)Director name: Higginson,AndrewAmount purchased: 1,134 @ 186.00pValue: £2,109.24Record (REC)Director name: Cullen,SteveAmount purchased: 849 @ 26.50pValue: £224.98Personal Group Holdings (PGH)Director name: Dugdale,Mike Amount purchased: 32 @ 484.90pValue: £155.17Personal Group Holdings (PGH)Director name: Dugdale,Mike Amount purchased: 31 @ 484.90pValue: £150.32Top Director SellsElementis (ELM)Director name: Taylorson,Brian GAmount purchased: 83,683 @ 186.06pValue: £155,700.59Papillon Holdings (PPHP)Director name: Longley,James Amount purchased: 4,950,000 @ 1.05pValue: £51,975.00