Swann raises £1.6m from WH Smith sale

17th Feb 2011 16:42

Kate Swann, the boss of WH Smith has raised more than £1.6m from selling shares in the retailer. Swann sold shares in November and the latest sale means that she has raised nearly £3m in three months. On 16 February, Swann sold 345,846 shares at 476.09p each. That raised £1.65m. In November, the shares were sold for 461.36p each. Swann still owns 932,119 shares, equivalent to 0.64% of the company. WH Smith is buying back its shares and it still has more than half of the £50m buy back cash to spend. WH Smith recently paid £1.05m to acquire 22 stores from the administrators of south of England-focused British Bookshops and Stationers Limited. This should be earnings enhancing next year. This deal followed January's trading statement. Total sales for the 21 weeks to 22 January fell 4% and were down 5% on a like for like basis.Broker FinnCap forecasts a rise in pre-tax profit from £89m to £93.3m in the year to August 2011. The buy back programme means that earnings per share are expected to increase from 45.7p to 49.7p. A profit of £99.2m is forecast for 2011-12. Top Director Buys Marston's (MARS) Director name: Mr Derek AndrewAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 101.75p Value: £101,750Severn Trent (SVT) Director name: Mr Andrew DuffAmount purchased: 3,500 @ 1,455.89p Value: £50,956PetroLatina Energy (PELE) Director name: Mr Juan Carlos RodriguezAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 40.75p Value: £40,750Hiwave Technologies (HIW) Director name: Mr David BramwellAmount purchased: 1,000,000 @ 3.62p Value: £36,200Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) Director name: Mr Nicholas GeorgeAmount purchased: 5,000 @ 585.07p Value: £29,254PetroLatina Energy (PELE) Director name: Mr Juan Carlos RodriguezAmount purchased: 70,000 @ 40.65p Value: £28,455Mothercare (MTC) Director name: Mr David G WilliamsAmount purchased: 5,000 @ 499.86p Value: £24,993Volex Group (VLX) Director name: Mr Michael McTigheAmount purchased: 7,042 @ 321.00p Value: £22,605Noricum Gold Ltd ORD NPV (DI) (NMG) Director name: Mr Jeremy WhybrowAmount purchased: 444,444 @ 4.50p Value: £20,000Top Director Sells WH Smith (SMWH) Director name: Ms Kate SwannAmount sold: 345,846 @ 476.09p Value: £1,646,538