Director dealings: Coca-Cola private equity backers can shares

Coca-Cola HBC directors Anastasios and Christo Leventis, major shareholders connected with the New Argen private equity group, confirmed they had sold £15.4m worth of shares.

Christo sold 735,968 at a price of 1,315p apiece, reaping £9.68m, while fellow non-executive Anastasios offloaded 436,129 at the same price to pocket £5.74m.

With an accelerated bookbuild by broker Credit Suisse on Tuesday, New Argen placed 5.4m shares in London-listed drinks bottler at the same price, raising a total of £71m.

Shares in the Hellenic group rallied last year but are down in the year to date, despite this month's trading update labelled 'a good start to the year' that showed reported volumes were stable in the first quarter with an improving underlying trend in both established and emerging markets.

Chief executive Dimitris Lois said: "We had a good start to the year with Q1 trading in line with our plans. Our commercial initiatives delivered beneficial results, improving currency-neutral revenue per case by 2%.

"We are encouraged by the ongoing volume growth in emerging and developing markets and the improving underlying trend in established markets. While soft in the quarter, pricing trends in developing markets are improving. We are confident we have the right initiatives in place to continue our progress in the remainder of the year."

Top Director Buys

General Electric Co (GEC)
Director name: Immelt,Jeffrey R
Amount purchased: 67,600 @ $29.59
Value: $1,794,327.75

Keller Group (KLR)
Director name: Hill,Peter John
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 934.04p
Value: £93,404.00

Fastforward Innovations Limited (FFWD)
Director name: Smith,Bryan George
Amount purchased: 467,836 @ 15.00p
Value: £70,175.40

Mobeus Income & Growth Vct (MIX)
Director name: Boothman,Clive
Amount purchased: 27,621 @ 90.00p
Value: £24,858.90

Firstgroup (FGP)
Director name: O'Toole,Tim
Amount purchased: 7,281 @ 108.60p
Value: £7,907.17

Firstgroup (FGP)
Director name: Barker,Mick
Amount purchased: 534 @ 108.60p
Value: £579.92

Aberdeen Asian Income Fund Ltd. (AAIF)
Director name: Arthur,Peter
Amount purchased: 267 @ 158.70p
Value: £423.73

Top Director Sells

Coca-cola Hbc Ag (cdi) (CCH)
Director name: Leventis,Christo
Amount sold: 735,968 @ 1,315.00p
Value: £9,677,978.92

Coca-cola Hbc Ag (cdi) (CCH)
Director name: non-executive,Anastasios I
Amount sold: 436,129 @ 1,315.00p
Value: £5,735,096.18

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Redfern,Peter
Amount sold: 1,656,327 @ 205.35p
Value: £3,401,267.39

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Jordan,James J
Amount sold: 529,622 @ 205.35p
Value: £1,087,578.74

Xchanging (XCH)
Director name: Bauernfeind,David
Amount sold: 516,038 @ 190.00p
Value: £980,472.19

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Redfern,Peter
Amount sold: 142,750 @ 206.02p
Value: £294,093.55

Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Director name: Redfern,Peter
Amount sold: 126,589 @ 206.02p
Value: £260,798.65

Fastforward Innovations Limited (FFWD)
Director name: Abony,Lorne
Amount purchased: 1,473,685 @ 15.00p
Value: £221,052.76

Home Retail Group (HOME)
Director name: Walden,John
Amount sold: 67,439 @ 163.50p
Value: £110,262.76

Home Retail Group (HOME)
Director name: Ashton,Richard
Amount sold: 58,856 @ 163.50p
Value: £96,229.56

G4s (GFS)
Director name: Almanza,Ashley
Amount sold: 51,407 @ 186.90p
Value: £96,079.68

Fastforward Innovations Limited (FFWD)
Director name: Abony,Lorne
Amount sold: 467,836 @ 15.00p
Value: £70,175.40

Plutus Powergen (PPG)
Director name: Stephens,Philip
Amount sold: 6,250,000 @ 0.75p
Value: £46,875.00

Plutus Powergen (PPG)
Director name: Lazarevic,Paul
Amount sold: 6,250,000 @ 0.75p
Value: £46,875.00