New Asos COO picks up £0.5m of shares after results bounce

21st Oct 2014 11:57

Asos'schief operating officer, Nick Beighton, who has been promoted or perhaps demoted from finance director after three profit warnings in the last seven months, increased his skin in the game with a significant share purchase on Wednesday morning after the company unveiled final results.Beighton picked up 22,150 ordinary shares at an average price of 2,249.62p for a cost of almost £500,000.The shares topped £23 on the day, before moving lower than Beighton's purchase price, where they are still two thirds of the all-time high above £70 they hit early this year.Annual profits were not quite as bad as feared as the online fashion retailer put a troublesome year to bed, although management plans significant investment in international pricing that is likely to hold profits back for the next two years.Beighton's move to COO, effective immediately, will see him add responsibility for retail and international to his existing responsibilities for finance, IT, supply chain and logistics, freeing up chief executive Nick Robertson to focus on growth strategy, customer experience and marketing. The company has already begun a search for a new CFO.Top Director BuysASOS (ASC) Director name: Mr Nick BeightonAmount purchased: 22,150 @ 2,249.62p Value: £498,291Burford Capital (BUR) Director name: Mr David Charles LoweAmount purchased: 60,000 @ 122.00p Value: £73,200Sopheon (SPE) Director name: Mr Barry K MenceAmount purchased: 237 @ 18,576.86p Value: £44,027Devro (DVO) Director name: Mr Peter PageAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 247.32p Value: £49,464Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund Ltd (PAX) Director name: Mr Anthony M MillerAmount purchased: 30,000 @ $1.55 Value: $46,575Shanta Gold Ltd. (SHG) Director name: Mr Luke LeslieAmount purchased: 210,000 @ 9.50p Value: £19,950Griffin Mining Ltd. (GFM) Director name: Mr Adam Usdan Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 39.00p Value: £19,500Sopheon (SPE) Director name: Mr Stuart A SilcockAmount purchased: 74 @ 23,457.00p Value: £17,358Xcite Energy Ltd. (CDI) (XEL) Director name: Mr Andrew FaircloughAmount purchased: 35,000 @ 43.10p Value: £15,085Minds + Machines Group Limited (DI) (MMX) Director name: Mr Frederick (Fred) Robert KruegerAmount purchased: 150,000 @ 10.00p Value: £15,000